Comments about St. Helens Theatre in Chehalis, WA

KenLayton on May 13, 2021 at 12:40 am

This theater was just down the street from the Chehalis (Pix) Theater and on the same side of the street.

robboehm on May 12, 2021 at 9:56 pm

At the time it was built it was intended as a venue for shows and movies. The stage was 22 feet by 40 feet. As a movie theatre it was billed as the “House of Hits”.

This is now an event site called City Farm Chehalis. When they renovated the building in 2006 they found Italian Style frescos under the walls and the original chandelier.

JackCoursey on August 30, 2018 at 1:52 pm

The actual address for this building is 508 N. Market Boulevard, Chehalis, WA. The current occupant is the Wedding Show. How much, if any, of the original interior exist is unknown.

KenLayton on March 20, 2017 at 12:03 am

All of AaronNi’s photobucket links no longer work.

dallasmovietheaters on March 19, 2017 at 12:16 pm

The $100,000 St. Helen’s Theatre opened on May 12, 1924 with “The Sporting Youth”. It had a $15,000 Kimball pipe organ and Kenneth Laughlin as the organist. Irwin H. Hill and Ernest Thornton Mock of Hill & Mock of Tacoma were the architects. March 12, 1954 was the final day of operation for the St. Helen’s. It had fulfilled a 30-year lease and with competition from television, a decision of non-renewal was made and the venue was converted for other retail purposes.

KenLayton on February 15, 2014 at 9:45 pm

I believe the St. Helens Theater closed around 1958 or 1959.

Don Lewis on March 20, 2011 at 1:07 am

From 1941 a view of Market Blvd along with the St. Helens theatre in Chehalis.

ColinH on November 3, 2008 at 8:38 pm

This is how the theater was going to look originally:

View link

ColinH on November 3, 2008 at 8:31 pm

This building was originally built as The St. John Garage in the 1910’s. The side walls and roof were kept but the facade was replaced for the theatre It was designed by Hill, Mock & Griffin Architects of Tacoma.

kencmcintyre on October 4, 2008 at 11:17 pm

Here is a May 1938 ad from the Chehalis Bee-Nugget:
http://tinyurl.com/3w4wnr

AaronNi on January 12, 2008 at 5:59 pm

I had a chance to take some photographs of the St Helens Theater the fall of 2007, the owners stated that the ground floor would be retail space and the second floor would be renovated back to a performance space.

View link

After a couple minutes the owner said he had things to do and just let him know when I left, I dont think he thought I’d walk through the whole building and find all the old rooms and stairwells that were partially collapsed/filled in with dirt.

KenLayton on March 18, 2006 at 8:02 am

It was indeed a movie theater. When I showed the movie, “The Chehalis Story” a few months ago the nighttime scenes showed a couple of movie titles on the marquee. I forgot what those movies were though.

kateymac01 on March 17, 2006 at 11:39 pm

Did this theater ever show movies? I had researched it before and thought it was only a venue for live shows. (Then again, like a lot of theaters from that era, it probably did both …)

KenLayton on March 17, 2006 at 8:16 am

The building still exists but has been converted to retail store space. This theater is shown in the Reelife Productions movie, “The Chehalis Story” (early 1950’s). I had the pleasure of projecting the only remaining copy of this movie in the Chehalis Theatre a few months ago. It shows the interior of the St. Helens Theater and some beautiful nightime views of it’s marquee all lit up with flashing neon and border chasing lights.

St. Helens Theatre

508 N. Market Boulevard, Chehalis, WA 98532

508 N. Market Boulevard,
Chehalis, WA 98532