Colquitt Theatre

17 First Avenue, SW,
Moultrie, GA 31768

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The Colquitt Theatre, now retrofitted as the Moultrie Senior Center by architect Jack Wilson, AIA, is a contributing building in the National Register of Historic Places in Moultrie’s Historic District. The facade of the theatre is relatively intact from its remodeling in 1956 after a fire on March 2 of that year where about 600 moviegoers escaped from the burning theatre which suffered over $250,000 in damages.

The Colquitt was built in the early 1940’s and was conceived as Moultrie’s premier showcase for motion pictures. The Moultrie Theatre, built in the late twenties, became the “B” house after the opening of the Colquitt.

After the Colquitt’s extensive remodeling in 1956-1958, Powell included an attractive wallpaper mural in the inner foyer, flanked by an Italian commode. In the auditorium a motorized curtain was employed (similar to Radio City Music Hall on a smaller scale) and a color wheel and music always preceeded the film presentations. The upstairs lounges had “retro” (even for 1958) illuminated signs for women and men. The men’s sign featured a silhoutted gentleman in a lounge chair smoking a pipe.

The theatre closed as a motion picture house on October 15, 1978 and the building sat vacant until a grant was awarded in 1993 to remodel the theatre as a center for Moultrie’s senior citizens.

Contributed by John Clark McCall, Jr.