Masonic Theatre
514 Hancock Street,
New Bern,
NC
28560
514 Hancock Street,
New Bern,
NC
28560
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The Masonic Theatre was built approximately 1810 with the theater on the ground level and a Masonic lodge above the theater. During the Union occupation of New Bern in the Civil War the theater was renamed Union Theatre; after the war ended the Masonic Theatre name was revived.
Originally a legitimate house, movies were being shown here by 1910. The Masonic Theatre would be New Bern’s leading downtown movie theater for decades; the Athens Theatre (originally a vaudeville house) was its primary competitor. The advent of television and drive-in theatres hurt business, but it was the arrival of shopping-center cinemas that finally forced the Masonic Theatre to close in 1974. The Southgate Cinema 1 & 2 opened around the same time as the Masonic Theatre closed.
Contributed by
NightHawk1
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Status of the Masonic Theatre should be open. It is once again a legitimate theater (its original purpose), home of the RiverTowne Players. The Masonic Theatre began showing movies in 1917 (not 1910) and continued as a movie house until 1974. The correct address is 514 Hancock Street.
Another competitor during the downtown movie house days would have been the Colonial Theater where the Branch’s Office Supply & Furniture is currently located at 309 Pollock Street.
Here is an item from the November 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World telling of the conversion of the Masonic Theatre into a moving picture house:
The houses operated by Lovick and Taylor mentioned in the article were the Athens and the Star.The Athens was eventually purchased by a Mr. Keyhoe, who changed the name to the Keyhoe. It was later sold to S&E, who renamed it the Tryon, which it remained until the New Bern Civic theater reverted to the original Athens.
This is the first I’ve heard of a “Star” theater in New Bern, very interesting.
DocSouth’s Going to the Show lists the Star Theatre at 59 Broad Street from around 1913 to around 1920. This was the same address as the earlier Amuses or Amusea Theatre, 1907 to 1910, and the generically-named Moving Picture Show, 1912-1913.
Also, there was a theater in Bayboro, NC that doesn’t appear on the CT list. It eventually was turned into a bowling alley, and at one time, and later a seafood restaurant. I think the buildig is still there.
As well, there was a theater in Vanceboro, NC. I think that building might still be there as well.
The Vanceboro indoor theatre , located on the corner of Main Street and White Street, was torn down around 1978-79 after being used as a Laundromat in the 1960s through the early 1970s. Only the lower portion of the wall along White Street remains. Vanceboro also had a drive-in theater just north of town on the corner of NC 43 and Bailey Lane, demolished by 1970.