Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street,
Marion,
VA
24354
117 E. Main Street,
Marion,
VA
24354
1 person
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The Lincoln Theatre opened in 1929. Its interior includes six large paintings on the walls that show scenes of American and Virginia history.
It was closed as a movie theatre in 1977. In 1992 it was listed on the Register of Historic Places.
The Lincoln Theatre was fully restored in 2004 and serves as a performing arts center.
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Ronnie Harrington
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The Lincoln will open May 16, 2004 with Riders in the Sky. The theatre will be open for tours on May 1.
Architect: Eubank & Caldwell, Roanoke, VA. The Lincoln was the flagship of the Lincoln Theatres Corporation in Southwest Virginia.
The Lincoln has an official website. http://www.the-lincoln-theatre.org/
Here is another link:
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Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992
Lincoln Theatre (added 1992 – Building – #92001710)
Also known as DHR File No. 119-09
117 E. Main St., Marion
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Novelty Scenic Studios, Eubank & Caldwell
Architectural Style: Exotic Revival, Other
Area of Significance: Architecture, Art
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Vacant/Not In Use
This is a 05/01/2004 article about the re-opening of the Lincoln Theater:
“By Paul Dellinger, The Roanoke Times, Va. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
May 1—MARION, Va. — A renovated movie theater, closed since 1977, will open to the public today and is already spurring new economic development in downtown Marion.
An open house at the restored Lincoln Theatre is set for noon to 6 p.m.
Some $1.8 million has been spent on the building to date.
Its total price tag will be closer to $2.15 million, said Mary Margaret Justis, executive director of the Lincoln Theatre Foundation, which is handling the project. “It’s still a work in progress,” she said.
Dominion Bank matched private donations to raise $20,000 for a group of residents to buy the building in 1988. The renovation has been under way since then but got a boost a little more than a year ago when Smyth County businesses and industries got behind it. Volunteers did much of the work and secured grants to help fund it.
Supporters of the project conferred with people in Blacksburg who had worked to reopen the Lyric Theatre, and in Roanoke where similar work was done on the Grandin Theatre, both of which now offer movies.
“We’re trying to be more of a performing arts center, a community meeting center,” Justis said. “But we also will eventually have movies a It will be second-run movies because we’re not for profit.”
The theater has already scheduled a number of live performances in the coming months, starting with the Western musical-comedy group, “Riders in the Sky,” at 3 p.m. May 16.
Justis said a Macado’s restaurant is going to locate in Marion, in a former post office building across Main Street from the Lincoln, partly because the theater is expected to increase downtown traffic. She said several stores have renovations under way for similar reasons, and a nearby hotel and apartment complex are being restored.
The theater project has been an economic development stimulus for downtown, she said.
The theater was built in 1929 by Charles Lincoln Sr., in the art deco style he had seen in New York theaters. He died before it opened, but his family completed it.
It showed movies continuously until 1973, then reopened briefly and closed again in 1977. A group of residents decided the theater could become a tourist attraction as well as a magnet for downtown and set about buying and restoring it.
Three of its distinctive murals have been restored. Three more remain to be done, when funding is available. Its 750 seats, dating from the 1940s, have been refurbished".
The historic Lincoln Theatre is booming now that it’s fully restored at a cost of 1.8 million. We now have a newly refurbished website with online ticketing at www.thelincoln.org We also have a nationally syndicated tv series “Song of the Mountains” that is being broadcast on over 130 public tv stations across the nation. This series features the best in local bluegrass talent and is taped the first Saturday of each month.
The Theatre’s Executive Director is Duane Cregger. The Business and Box Office Manager is Sonja Shelton. Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10-1 and 2-5.
Here is a photo of the Lincoln Theater.
2009 photos of the Lincoln Theatre: 1, 2, 3
“Effective Merchandising” circa 1941: Boxoffice