Fields Corner Theatre
215 Adams Street,
Dorchester,
MA
02124
215 Adams Street,
Dorchester,
MA
02124
1 person
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Opened on April 28, 1924, the Fields Corner Theatre was one of two movie theatres in the Fields Corner section of Dorchester, an area of Boston to the south of downtown. The theatre was fairly large, and originally had a seating capacity of 1,800 including a balcony.
Contributed by
Ron Salters
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Dorchester Atheneum says: “in Fields Corner at the intersection of Adams Street and Dorchester Avenue, just south of Arcadia Street, at the parking lot where the bank and Meyers Deli are now”.
I didn’t realize it was that far up! This location puts it north of the MBTA Red Line bridge over Adams St. It definitely was not there in the 1960s.
On a theater organ list, the Fields Corner Theater has an aka name of Rialto Theater.
The Theatre Historical Society lists the opening date of the Fields Corner Theatre as April 28, 1924.
From yesterday’s Fields Corner Main Streets newsletter:
Further up Dot Ave., on the western side of the intersection of Adams Street, stood the Fields Corner Theatre. Opened on April 28, 1924, it was quite large, with over 1,500 seats. A historic house at 215 Adams Street owned by Benjamin Clapp was either torn down or moved when the theatre was built. The theatre’s 1923 building permit lists the architects as Funk & Wilcox, who also designed the Strand Theatre in Upham’s Corner and the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. We have no photos of this building… Surprisingly, this large, brick and stone building had a very short life and seems to have been torn down in the early 1950s. Its site is now occupied by the Citizens Bank building and a parking lot.
I agree that the Fields Corner Th. must have closed sometime after November 1951 and was then demolished. I have no memory of it at all. The Theatre Historical Society has a good-quality black and white photo of the exterior on the MGM Report of April 1941.
Boxoffice of December 11, 1954, reported that the Fields Corner Theatre had been razed. It said that the house had been closed for several years.
On the Winthrop Hall Theatre page, CT member Ed Findlay posted a link to a long article which appeared in the Dorchester Argus-Citizen on June 2, 1983 written by TV critic Anthony LaCamera in which he writes of attending movies in Dorchester as a youth. He refers to this theater as the “Rialto Theatre”. This would have been sometime in the 1920s/1930s.
The Fields Corner Theater was located at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue, and Adams Streets, a short distance down from Arcadia Street, and on the right. This location is where you will find the Citizen’s Bank, and its parking lot today, right next to Domino’s Pizza.
The Fields Corner theatre was beautiful. It was a 25 center compared to the Dorchester theatre down the st which was 10 cents. The Fields Corner had a stage and had kiddie stage shows. I saw Howdy Doody an Clarabelle with Chief Thundercloud there. Also cowboy star Sunset Carson there, That was about 1950-1951. We moved from Dorchester to Scituate in 1952. The Fields Corner was at the intersection of Adams and Dot ave, Diagonally across from the Rexall Drug Store and 1 block up from St AQmbrose church.