Goodwill Theatre
32 Willow Street,
Johnson City,
NY
13790
32 Willow Street,
Johnson City,
NY
13790
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Pretty sure I remember this theatre being open at least into the early ‘70s.
My family lived behind the Enjoy Theater on Broad st. In the late 40’s & early 50’s my brother & I would walk to the Enjoy to see our favorite movies like the Lone Ranger & Hop A Long Cassidy. Once I became a teenager my friends & I would be at the Enjoy every Friday night with the expectation of sitting with a boy friend. Hopefully he would dare to put his arm around you. We weren’t the best behaved kids at this point & the usher would shine his light in your face & threaten to throw you out if yhou didn’t straighten up. We had alot of good times at the enjoy & I’m thrilled that it’s being restored. It is a historical land mark in Johnson City.
I’m working on an article about the Goodwill – would like to hear any comments, memories, interesting stories about the theater. Please email me at: rl(at)nysLandmarks.com.
Treasures of the Tier
Binghamton is the largest city in Broome County, and the county seat. The office of Sanford O. Lacey, architect of the Goodwill Theatre, was in Binghamton. Johnson City, despite its name, is classified under New York law as an incorporated village, and is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
I like Lost Memory’s picture with the marquee from 1987. Looks like a solid structure. I’m a bit confused with their website. The theater is in Johnson City, but they also mention Binghamton, NY. Is that the nearby town that is helping with the renovation?
The architect of the Goodwill Theatre was Sanford O. Lacey, then a partner in the firm of Lacey, Schenck, & Cummings. The Goodwill Theatre was built in 1920, and was designed in the Georgian Revival style (a subset of the Colonial Revival style.)
Although the house operated for decades as the Enjoy Theatre, it is now under renovation as part of a project that will include three performance halls as well as other arts facilities, all to be operated by The Goodwill Theatre Inc. (official web site.)
So far, the only performance space in operation appears to be the Firehouse Stage, located (of course) the the town’s former firehouse, at the other end of the block from the Goodwill Theatre. I can’t find anything on the web site about how the renovation is proceding, or when the theater might be expected to open.
Are there ANY plans to save this once great theatre??!!!
C'mon Johnson City, site of my High School Graduation—————-LET’S GET ON THE BALL AND TRY TO SAVE THIS STRUCTURE!!
Once it’s gone, you will lose YET another piece of your once proud history!!!!!!!!
I did ENJOY it Lost Memory.
Enjoy this 1987 Photo.
I saw DIRTY HARRY in that Theatre back in the 70's
It was the only time I ever went there. The reason I remember it????? I got a parking ticket for parking near the fire station in a NO PARKING ZONE!!!! Didn’t even see the darn sign!
I’m so glad that it wasn’t torn down. It is truly a Village treasure!
I was born in Johnson City in 1953 and now live in Florida. My father used to own the Tip Top restaurant on Main street, just around the corner from the EnJoie. My mom, met my Dad while working at the Crystal Tea Room on Main street and used to work at the enjoie when she was a teenager. The last movie I saw at the enjoie was the evil kneivel story. besides the enjoie I used to go to the Sun Theater, Crest, Strand, Rivera and the Vestal Drive In or V drive in.
The Beman theater organ was a size 2/15 and was installed in the Goodwill Theater in 1920. Note: With 2-rank echo.
A correction to my previous post: St. Joseph’s Church in Endicott did apparently use at one time an organ which used to be in a theater. However, I’m not sure now if it was the Beman that was originally in the Goodwill. The church eventually junked most of the organ and replaced it with an electronic instrument.
Here is a website with some information on the Goodwill Theater.
A friend of mine told me that a Beman organ was used in the Goodwill for a time. It had an Echo division which was inside the dome in the ceiling. The Beman was eventually removed and installed inside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in nearby Endicott. The church at some point decided to replace it with another organ, so I can’t help but wonder where it went, or even if it still exists.
I apologize … I am not sure where I got the idea to put the “–” in the name … there was none. It was the “Enjoy”. I have Binghamton Press newspaper ads from 1956 to support this. And, yes, it was housed in The Goodwill Theatre that is now in process of hopefully being restored.
I would bet that En-Joie is the correct spelling. Everything in the area with an E-J in the name is named after the Endicott Johnson shoe company. It was a company town way back when and Endicott Johnson built many things for the workers, this theater included. They also built schools, parks, and other recreational and community facilities. The golf course in Endicott (neighboring village) is named the En-Joie, the same name as this theater had.
This is a January 22, 2007 news story about opening the Goodwill Theater again. In that news story, it claims that, “from 1928 to 1960, it was a movie house called the En Joie”. Is that spelling correct or is the spelling really “En-Joy”?
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000
Goodwill Theatre (added 2000 – Building – #99001655)
36 Willow St., Johnson City
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Lacey, Schenck & Cummings
Architectural Style: Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
Area of Significance: Social History, Architecture, Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1900-1924
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Vacant/Not In Use