Kenova Theater
Kenova,
WV
25530
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The Kenova was part of the Logan Theaters chain in the early Seventies. Chief officers were Albert and M.E. Thalheimer. The company was based in Logan, West Virginia.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The Kenova Theatre was open prior to 1950 and the Logan Theatre chain operated the Theatre from 1961 thru its closing.
The theater started out life as Cookeys or Cooksies Department Store as the name was painted on the side of the building and was faded out in the 1950’s. Later it became the Strand Theater before becoming the Kenova Theater (my dad is 92 and went to the theater as a boy. It was later converted to Loar’s Furniture and the floor was leveled with wood. The theater had a balcony and there were two carbon arc projectors that were manually adjusted.
The speaker behind the screen was an Altec Lansing “Voice of the Theater” and appeared to be a 15 inch speaker. There was also a tube amp in the projection booth, but I don’t remember the make. The popcorn popper was a gas flame under the kettle and electric motor on the kettle to stir the corn. There were stained glass lights on the walls that were ½ round with pointed tops.
After the theater closed the theater equipment was stored in the basement of the main offices of the Booth Coal Company which was next to the theater.
Is this theater still around? I am in the process of buying and rehabbing the Philippi Grand and if it proves profitable I want to work on reopening other theaters in WV, KY, OH, PA, MD, and VA. There are so many wonderful old theaters with more character than any modern cookie cutter places.