Grand Theatre

In the early evening of June 23, 1921, the Grand Theatre in Barnesboro collapsed with seven people killed and seven injured. The story was covered by the Associated Press night wire and made the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

A sewer line was being installed on an adjoining building and the workmen had gone beyond the theatred wall, whose ground had been softened by a recent rain. The Altoona Mirror Reported it was an old wooden structure with 500 seats.

There were 20 to 30 people in the theatre at the time. The hero of the calamity was William Hicks, age 18, who picked up three small children and carried then out when he heard the walls crack.

The Grand Theatre was listed in Motion Picture Directory 1914-15 on Caroline Street, also named 10th Street on later Sanborn Maps. While the exact location has not been determined, the 1910 maps show an Electric Theatre at 410 Caroline (today’s 10th Street), two blocks from the Fox Run stream.

The operator, Jake Smith was building a new theatre in town and expected the Grand Theatre to be closed. On July 21, 1921, Motion Picture World reported Jake Smith of the Grand Theatre was exonerated from all blame as to the recent collapse. The coroner’s jury held the owner of the building and two contractors responsible.

On January 1, 2000, the towns of Barnesboro and Spangler consolidated into one borough called Northern Cambria.

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