King Theatre
1319 Boston Road,
Bronx,
NY
10456
1319 Boston Road,
Bronx,
NY
10456
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This theater opened in 1916 as the McKinley Square Theatre, located on Boston Road near 169th Street, not far from McKinley Square. During the 1930’s, it was renamed the King Theatre. Long ago closed, it was torn down in 2002.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
I haven’t been by there in a while, but the last time I saw this building and took pictures it was half-way torn down. Most of the side walls were down and you could see the inside was a shell. Interestingly, the front facade was largely intact. I expect this building won’t be standing much longer. To see the pics I took in the summer of 2002, click here:
View link
In 1921 Mr. Edward M. Fay bought the McKinley Square Theatre and gave it his name. He was also associated with a group of theatres he owned in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was born. One of them, Fays Theatre, also bore his name and was a famous vaudeville house in that city. He had also managed the National Theatre in Rochester and acquired the Knickerbocker Theatre in Philadelphia. This information comes from a biographical entry for Fay in the volume Rhode Island – Three Centuries of Democracy.
I walked past this location today, and just as I suspected in my post above, the theater is now gone. Been replaced by a shit-ugly 3-story building with a Dollar Store on the ground floor. When I took pics of the theater in 2002, the facade facing Boston Road was still standing and intact. The rear section, however, was crumbling. (To see the pics, click on the link contained in my post of Sept. 12, 2004 above.) It’s too bad the facade couldn’t have been preserved and used in the new building. It would have retained some of the charm of this area just north of McKinley Square.
INVESTOR ACQUIRES OLD BRONX HOLDING; Gets Building on Boston Road Containing McKinley Square Theatre and Ballrooms
NY Times January 29, 1953
A three-story building at 1315-21 Boston Road, the Bronx, containing the old McKinley Square Theatre, three ballrooms and two stores, has been sold by the Kinetta Holding Corporation to Paul Liftman, investor. The property, assessed at $150,000, fronts about 101 feet on Boston Road and 102 feet on Clinton Avenue.
Helloo, I just came across the address 1315-21 boston road as Auerbach’s Casino. It was listed on my great-grandparents wedding invitation February 22, 1913. Would anyone have info on the Auerbach itself? Thank you.
This is a photo of the McKinley Square Theater.
Here is an updated link for the McKinley Square Theater photo.
I was sorting through some old pictures of my neighborhood and came across a picture of the McKinley Theater in it’s finest. I lived directly across the street from the Theater in the late 40’s through early 50’s.