Lyon's State Theatre

221 South Main Street,
Franklin, VA 23851

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forgottentreasuresofsoco_franklin
forgottentreasuresofsoco_franklin on January 2, 2013 at 4:11 pm

When I moved to Franklin in 1999, this movie theater was being used as a dance studio. The seats had been torn out and the floor filled in to make it level. A church moved in shortly after the people who owned the dance studio moved out. I can’t say for certain when, but another church moved in and they did buy this building. They have since become a mainstay in the community. The city did, however, at some point between churches, replace the overhang with grants. Dan Howe,President of the Downtown Franklin Association asked that the city keep it so that he could put a museum in it to promote the area. The city declined.

jhuber1111
jhuber1111 on July 29, 2012 at 8:42 pm

Anyone know when it stopped being used as a theater? I remember going there in the mid-70s with a special young lady. Even then it seemed a bit of an anachronism – a single screen in the middle of a small town. Thank you for posting this, brings back good memories!

ghamilton
ghamilton on February 25, 2010 at 11:21 pm

Yes,I was in Franklin last week.( I wander willy-nilly) It is NOW being used as a church,again.

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on February 25, 2010 at 4:38 pm

When you do an address search, this comes up as the Move of God Church, so the building is in use as a Church.

MrDJDude
MrDJDude on October 31, 2009 at 8:53 am

Following up with ghamilton’s post, the building appears to still be doing just that. It looks like it was repurposed at some recent point, from what the marquee looks like in the Google Maps street view. However, it appears to be closed and abandoned at present.

ghamilton
ghamilton on October 30, 2009 at 12:15 am

Two years ago,it was clearly just sitting there doing nothing in hulking emptiness.

lostmemory
lostmemory on October 27, 2009 at 9:53 pm

This building is part of a historic district in Franklin, Virgina and the district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The Lyons State Theatre at 221 South Main Street is among Franklin’s most stylish buildings dating from the 1930s. Expressive of the Art Deco style, popular with movie theatres of the age, the facade exhibits such details as fluted stone or concrete bands and panels contrasting with recessed brick panels which together form typical Art Deco decorative patterns”.

Here is the National Register of Historic Places nomination form.