Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Jordan Theater To Be Demolished
posted by
pharpst
on
November 1, 2004 at 1:19 pm
GREENVILLE, PA — November 8, 2004 is the day set for the classic Jordan Theater to be destroyed.
The Jordan was opened in 1946 in honor of the first Greenville resident killed in WWII, Cpl. James O. Jordan. This great theater was the finest of Blatt Brothers chain of theaters in Pennsylvania.
Recently, a bordering church obtained ownership and are scheduling to destroy the building, contents (including both projectors), on November 8th. The bright marquee with illuminated JORDAN across the top will be destroyed as well.
Another unfortunate demise of history and culture.
Comments (10)
Is the theater still picture-worthy? I’m seriously considering driving up from D.C. this weekend, but I don’t want to get there and find a big fence around it. Can’t believe people are so stupid, it looks like it was renovated as of 1998.
I’m thinking about coming over too! These folks need to be stopped.Sounds like alot of useable theatre equipment will be trashed! Would they be open to offer$
it was is Very Poor shape..the roof leaked something terrible…i mean the ice and water would run out under the doors…i live here in greenville and have a ton of pics of the theater…i’ve been fight for years with the city concil and zoning to just get lied too…its a horrible shame just thought i’d let u know..
Can I obtain some of the Jordan photos?
I would like to put a pack of them together.
Seth and truckinalong01,
I would take and digital or make copies of any originals that you may have of the Jordan. I am too from Greenville and was in the theater the Friday prior to demolition. I wonder if anybody has photos of the theater when it was in operation? I will be cleaning up the projectors. I would eventually like to restore the Marquee letters as well.
Hope to hear from you.
I do not have any pics of when the theatre was in operation i wish i did…im desperately trying to find some though….i have pics before during and after the demolition though…probably about 50 pics or so…..let me know if your interested in those pics and i can burn u a copy or email them if you’d like….
Truckinalong01,
How about you email me at and I can have you email the jpgs. to me if it’s not too much trouble. I’m assuming that the library may have old articles from when the Jordan was built, and I’m wondering if the previous owners would have any photos. Its possible when Mr. Vanderslice purchased the building in the late 80’s he may have taken some shots. I am intending on putting any information or photos into a binder that I can keep with the projectors. Thanks for all of your help.
Well, it’s 2005 now and the Jordan is long gone, but it is sad to think that a church organiziation would allow this theatre to be lost forever! Another example is another former Blatt Brothers theatre in another PA town, North East PA along the shores of Lake Erie near Erie PA. The local Baptist church built an addition and guess what land they used?
So did the church in Greenville build an addition on the former Jordan Theatre land or is that land now just another unused parking lot? If it’s another unused parking lot, I hang my head in shame for the people of Greenville which includes those members of that church.
Some churches even use forgotten theatres for their services…too bad this church didn’t see fit to do so!