Welch Theatre

79 McDowell Street,
Welch, WV 24801

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Showing 4 comments

SethG
SethG on March 5, 2024 at 7:24 am

Sorry, not sure why the ‘Ltd.’ was added to G.C. Murphy. It was always G.C. Murphy Co. I’m unaware of any UK operations.

SethG
SethG on March 4, 2024 at 4:55 am

Thanks for the ID!

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 3, 2024 at 4:06 pm

This house and its predecessor were called the Welch Theatre, owned and originally operated by brothers Huritz and Joe Lopinsky. It was closed when later operators opened the new Pocahontas Theater in 1928. The pending conversion of the Welch Theatre building into a store for the G. C. Murphy Co. was noted in the August 12, 1928 issue of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. At that time it was expected that the new theater would be completed in January of 1929, but the job was done ahead of schedule and it opened on December 25. The last show at the Welch was therefore probably on December 24, 1928.

SethG
SethG on February 29, 2024 at 11:55 am

The NRHP listing for downtown calls this the Ames building, which may have been the name of the theater, or the name of the owner in 1992. The older listings are generally pretty vague on details.