State Theatre
233 E. Front Street,
Traverse City,
MI
49684
233 E. Front Street,
Traverse City,
MI
49684
3 people
favorited this theater
The State Theatre was built on the site of the original Lyric Theatre that opened in 1916 and was gutted by a fire in January 1923. On December 20, 1923, it reopened after being rebuilt and had a seating capacity of 1,250. The Lyric Theatre was taken over by Butterfield Theatres in September 1937.
It was destroyed by fire again on January 3, 1948. Rebuilt, it reopened as the State Theatre on June 30, 1949.
The State Theatre closed on September 10, 1978 for remodeling into a twin screen cinema. In December 1984 it was purchased by the Kerasotes chain.
In January 1996 the State Theatre was purchased by Barry Cole for the Michigan Ensamble Theatre and it closed as movie theatre on April 13, 1996. A 6.9 million renovation into a Community Performing Arts Center was envisaged, but these plans stalled.
In September 2003 another restoration group took on a restoration project on the State Theatre.
In June 2005 it was given a general cleaning and fix up to prepare for the Traverse City Film Festival in July 2005.
The State Theatre was officially reopened on November 17, 2007 with a gala premiere of “The Kite Runner”. Today she sits in great shape with her neon State upright sign and large marquee in funtioning order.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
State Theater photo
Here is a 1979 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cdz5fx
Here is a 2009 photo.
This is another 2009 photo.
June 2009 photo
1994 photo of the State Theatre.
View link
Nice 2009 B&W photo of the State Theatre.
View link
2009 night photo of the State Theatre.
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Theatre Historical Society will be visiting this theater during our 2011 Conclave – “The Michigan Roads Less Traveled” June 21-25. See the website for details www.historictheatres.org
The State Theatre has a prominent role at the beginning of a new Lip Dub video, featuring the people of Traverse City. The link should be easy to find on YouTube.