Lyric Theatre
87 Public Square,
Holley,
NY
14470
87 Public Square,
Holley,
NY
14470
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 2 comments
According to an article in the Holley Standard, on April 8, 1915, a fire had broken out at the bakery located adjacent to the old Lyric Theatre just after midnight the previous Friday evening – the very last weekend before the new Lyric was scheduled to open across the Square. The fire was believed to have started in the cellar of the bakery, which was located in the Odd Fellows block. While the fire was brought under control within an hour, thanks to the quick response of the firemen and excellent water pressure, both the Lyric to the south and the jewelry store to the north were in immediate jeopardy.
No mention in the article as to whether any shows were cancelled at the Lyric. Indeed, while we know that the “New Lyric,” as it was being referred to, opened on Tuesday, April 6, there is no mention in any editions of the Standard during this period as to when operations at the old Lyric were to have wound down, or what plans for the old space were to be.
In the street view for this theater, the building that housed the Orpheum/Lyric is the red one, second from left, adjacent to the double-width white building on the corner. That white building is Odd Fellows Hall, constructed in 1890 by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization formed in 1819.
When M. G. Carson opened the new Lyric Theatre in 1915, it was in a space directly across the Square, in a mirror-image location that was once again a single width two story structure adjacent to the corner building that was double-width. The site of the new Lyric listed here on CT is shown in its street view to be occupied by Holley Video, and is adjacent to what is now the Community Library.