to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including the Shubert Theatre. The venue was developed by the Shubert brothers of Syracuse, New York, who expanded downstate into New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. After Sam S. Shubert died in a railroad accident in 1905, his brothers Lee and J. J. expanded their theatrical operations significantly. Sam had been 26 years old at the time of his death. His brothers decided to construct five theaters across the United States in his honor, all named the Sam S. Shubert Memorial Theatre. The Shuberts later dropped the word "memorial" from these theaters' names, citing the word's "unpleasant connotation". Development and early years Construction As the Shuberts were developing theaters in the early 1910s, theatrical producer Winthrop Ames was planning to build a replacement for the New Theatre. Though the New had been completed in 1909, Ames and the theater's founders saw the venue, on the Upper West Side, as being too large and too far away from Times Square. The New Theatre's founders acquired several buildings at 219–225 West 44th Street and 218–230 West 45th Street in March 1911, for the construction of a "new New Theatre" there. The theater would have contained a private alley to the east. The project was canceled in December 1911, after the site had been cleared, when Ames announced he would build the Little Theatre (now the Hayes Theater) across 44th Street. The New Theatre's founders cited the difficulty of finding a director for the new New Theatre, as well as possible competition with Ames's Little Theatre. In April 1912, Winthrop Ames and Lee Shubert decided to lease the site of the new New Theatre from the Astor family. Two theaters would be built on the site, along with a private alley to their east. Shubert's theater was to be the larger of the venues, being on 44th Street, while Ames's theater would be on 45th Street and would have a smaller seating capacity. The larger theater was known as the Sam S. Shubert Theatre, in memory of Lee's late brother, while the smaller one was named after actor Edwin Booth. Documents indicate that several architects were consulted for the theaters' design, including Clarence H. Blackall, before the Shuberts hired Henry B. Herts for the job. An "ice palace" was also planned on the site now occupied by