Romance Theater
2 East Main Street,
Rexburg,
ID
83440
2 East Main Street,
Rexburg,
ID
83440
1 person
favorited this theater
Opened in 1917 as the Rex Theater and through the years had various owners and operators.
In 1976, when it was called the Romance Theater, it was damaged by the Teton Dam flood. The theater, after being rebuilt, was renamed the Westwood Theater and finally sold to Carmike Cinemas in 1988.
Carmike Cinemas, which has another three-screen theater in this town of 14,300, operated it until closing it on March 29, 2001. In around 2006, it was reopened as a community arts center, and in 2011 was renamed Romance Theatre again.
Although it is not on the National Register of Historic places, it is near the Madison County Courthouse which is on the Register.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
Given the name of the town, I think the answer is there were two different theaters.
Here is a Rex Theater in Rexburg, Idaho that is open. Maybe its the same Rex Theater from the 1967 IMPA. I don’t think this Rex is listed here.
The address for the operating Rex Theater is:
475 N 2nd E
Rexburg, ID 83440
If you want to add it, be my guest.
No, I added two already today. Go ahead and add it if you want to.
I’m not sure what the correct name is for this theater. I think it should be listed as “The Rex”. I’ll add it with both of our names since I wouldn’t have found it if you hadn’t mentioned the other Rex Theater.
Sounds good.
The Rex/Romance theatre was built and originally owned by my paternal grandfather, Mark C. Madison. According to a Rexburg newspaper article by Holly Speer dated Mar.30,2001, It opened as the Rex Theatre and played it’s first show on Feb. 22,1917. It’s name was changed to the Columbia for a short time, then back to the Rex. It was remodled in 1935, and was given it’s new name of the Romance. Prior to 1917, there were two other theatres in Rexburg; the Star and the Electric. Both of these were run by my Grandfather Madison. Since this theatre is of sentimental and family history interest to me, I would welcome any information or articles about it. I am confused about how this site works – a general search stated that there were thousands of items on this particular theatre, yet gave me nothing but a list of other article in no way connected to it. I tried an advanced search, which said “nothing found”! I also cannot find the articles talked about in this post. Clue me in!
This was the Westwood in 1984.
Some of the confusion about the rex/romance may be because there is a newer theater (475 N 2nd E) that is now called The Rex. It was built around 2005 (don’t quote me on the year) and was first operated by American Family Entertainment Centers (AFEC). After a few years of struggling, AFEC left and the property owner hired out management of it and the name was shortly after changed to “The Rex”.
This has been renamed the Romance Theatre.