Grand Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on February 10, 2023 at 9:23 pm

The Grand Theater was opened in 1906 by Mary Spach, Akron’s first female movie theater operator and just the third moving picture show in the city behind the Unique Theater (later Grotto Theater) and the Luna Theater (later Victor Theater). The name was a little contentious one as the Grand Opera House had used the name Grand Theatre upon its destruction by fire in March of 1905. Spach came in and built a quick space calling it the Grand. And the Grand Opera House on Main Street launched in 1907 and ran to 1921.

The old address of the Grand Theater venue was at 42 South Howard. It was returned to retail operation. And, in its last stand against Urban Renewal, it had become the long-running Old Book Store from the 1940s until being razed in 1967. The last days of the bookstore were captured and two photos are posted.