Gateway Theatre

Prior to 1918, Kirkland’s theatre was the Jackson. It was then purchased by J.E. Ring and reopened as Ring’s Theatre on October 17, 1918. Shortly thereafter in 1919 the name was changed to the Gateway Theatre. In 1926, the Kirkland Theatre Building, Inc. was formed and the theater was rebuilt in brick. The new theatre opened with a $10,000 Kimball pipe organ on November 23, 1926.

Disaster struck in 1930, when a fire seriously damaged the theatre. It was quickly repaired. The facade was completely remodeled in a streamlined fashion in 1936. Further remodelings in 1945 made it the way it appears today.

The Gateway Theatre went through many troubles in the 1950’s, closing for months at a time. it’s last movie was shown around 1958. In 1963 it was converted to a performance arts theatre and renamed Theatre East. It closed for good in 1968 and was converted to stores.

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