Central Theatre

For around 80 years, the Whitmore Building was one of the more recognizable downtown edifices in downtown Staunton. The brownstone building was constructed in 1903 by J.E. Whitmore with the upper two floors housing the 26 rooms of the Whitmore Hotel and the lower floor serving as a lobby and a multi-business structure. One of those businesses was the very short-lived Central Theatre nickelodeon.

The Central Theatre was managed by vaudeville and Electric Theatre operator H.E. Sharp. Sharp purchased the projector used in the Electric Theatre in the Plecker Building on North Augusta late in 1907. He moved into the spaced vacated by Staunton Provision in December of 1907. The Wonderland Theatre and Bijou Theatre had opened in March and September of 1907 on Augusta Street. Sharp’s programming policy promised new / newer films than the competition - “no old chestnuts,” he said - and a new change of programming daily.

The Central Theatre closed early in 1908 failing to attract a steady clientele. The Whitmore Hotel would also go out of business, though some 60 years later in 1967. The upper floors would net another ten years as an apartment facility. But in 1982, building owner Community Federal Savings and Loan would forever change the face of Downtown Staunton by razing the Whitmore Building that had housed the Central Theatre, as well as the Hogshead Building in 1982/3. Not preservationists, Community Federal did not believe in “old chestnuts”.

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