Roxy Theatre
413-417 Union Avenue,
Knoxville,
TN
37902
413-417 Union Avenue,
Knoxville,
TN
37902
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The Roxy was built in the 1930’s as a burlesque theatre. It was small, with 475 seats. It stood a half block west of Knoxville’s Market Square: a convenient, if not prestigous, location. Small town burlesque didn’t last too long and the Roxy existed as a second run movie theatre for most of its existence.
Several generations of school boys spent their Saturday mornings at the Roxy’s double feature westerns. Now gray-haired men, they will smile and tell of taking the street cars “uptown” to see Tom Mix, the Lone Ranger, Hop-Along Cassidy and friends.
The Roxy was torn down during Knoxville’s tragic wave of urban renewal to make way for a parking lot (c. 1965). After 40 years the site is finally being redeveloped.
Contributed by
Will Dunklin
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Great stories about the Roxy can be found here:http://www.knology.net/~ronallen/Roxy.htm
This is a better link www.knology.net/~ronallen/Roxy.htm
Amazing! Who would have thought that live burlesque would have survived in a small market like Knoxville through 1947? Have any photos ever surfaced of the Roxy? Has anyone asked Marshall Andy – Knoxville’s king and guru of everything associated with Hollywood Westerns?
What a great article! When I lived in Knoxville in the 70’s, I could tell Market Square was just a ghost of what it had once been, and always wondered what it had been like earlier. I would love to see a photo of the Roxy!
This story, towards the end, talks about the Roxy; apparently parts of it got recycled at another location: View link