Murphy Theater
131 East Main Street,
Front Royal,
VA
22630
131 East Main Street,
Front Royal,
VA
22630
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The Murphy Theater was used as a vaudeville and silent motion picture theater. I have no timeline on this theater. The building still stands and has had various uses over the years. These include a post office, a clothing store and it’s current use as Royal Oak Computers.
Any further information on the Murphy Theater would be appreciated.
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Lost Memory
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The building at 131 East Main Street was originally constructed as a church in 1879. Around 1909 the building was transformed into the Murphy Theater.
The April 4, 1930, issue of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reported that Benjamin Pitts had taken a ten-year lease on Murphy’s Theatre in Front Royal and would immediately begin a remodeling which would include the installation of Western Electric sound equipment.
The theater was expected to reopen in about six weeks. It would be the sixth house in the Pitts' Theatres chain. The article said that Murphy’s was Front Royal’s leading playhouse, and one of the largest theaters in the Shenandoah Valley, seating over 1000.
The house was listed as Pitts' Murphy on a list of the twenty-five theaters operated by Pitts' Theatres in 1952. I found it mentioned in 1959, but an ambiguous context make it impossible to tell if it was still in operation at that time. Pitts' Theatres also took over the Park Theatre in Front Royal sometime after acquiring the Murphy, and appears to have operated it until at least 1960.