The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News had an item saying that C.W. and George L. Rapp were drawing plans for a fireproof theater on Schuyler Avenue in Kankakee for Mrs. Julia Remington. It didn’t say anything about the house being a replacement for a burned theater, but I’ve found nothing about Mrs. Remington building any other theaters at that time, so the Rapp & Rapp project was most likely the rebuilding of this theater.
The April 13, 1913, issue of The Construction News announced the plans for the Globe Theatre, to be built at 13th and Walnut Street in Kansas City. The owners were Oppenstein Bros., and the architects were Jackson & McIlvain.
Jackson & McIlvain are supposed to have designed a theater at Parsons, Kansas, around 1913, but I’ve been unable to track down its name or any other information about it.
This web page has information from the Cleveland Theatre Scrapbook held by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Links on the left lead to more details.
The Cleveland Theatre was opened in 1885. It was known as the H.R. Jacobs Theatre from 1886 until the mid-1890s when the original name was restored. It became a vaudeville and movie house in 1910, but closed a few months later. It was converted for use by the Union Paper & Twine Co. in late 1910, and the building was destroyed by fire in 1912.
I don’t recall ever having seen a city directory that listed vacant lots, and I’ve seen a lot of city directories. “Vacant” always meant an unoccupied building, and the street numbers of vacant lots are simply left off the list.
If we had access to more 1930s Reidsville directories than just 1932 and 1935, we might find either the New Gem or the Penn Theatre listed in several of them. I would guess that the name change came when the theater reopened, which could have been as early as 1935, if the reopening took place after that year’s directory went to press. The New Gem must have closed before late 1931, which is when information would have been gathered for the 1932 edition.
A city directory might make a mistake in one edition, but the owner of the business that had been givent he wrong address would be sure to get a correction in the next edition. The Booker T Theatre is listed at 182 N West Market in at least three Reidsville directories (I haven’t checked the ones published after 1955-56.)
I would guess that the theater was probably where the power plant is now. The power plant look and adjacent buildings (which front on Scales Street) look fairly modern to me- probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Judging from the positions of the older buildings to the north and south on West Market Street, it looks like the street’s alignment was shifted forty or fifty feet, too.
I have also come to suspect that the Booker T Theatre could have been the same house that was earlier called the Gem Theatre and then the Penn Theatre. It was listed at 92 N West Market in 1941, but in 1948 it is gone and the Booker T is listed at 182 N West Market. Between 1941 and 1948, Reidsville renumbered its lots, eliminating all one and two-digit addresses. The Penn could have been renamed the Booker T during the same period. Renaming seems more likely than that a new theater would have been built during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the War Production Board.
I suspect that the Gem/Penn Theatre might have been the house that later became the Booker T Theatre. Sometime between 1941 and 1948 Reidsville renumbered its lots, and every lot’s address was increased by approximately 100.
The Penn Theatre is listed at 92 N West Market in the 1941 directory, but the 1948-49 directory has the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market. A renaming seems more likely than the construction of an entirely new theater, especially during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the dictates of the War Production Board.
Items about a proposed theater at Mannington, West Virginia, appeared in multiple issues of The Film Daily in 1936. All noted that Dr. C. P. Church, operator of the Burt (or Burt’s) Theatre at Mannington was planning to build a new house ranging from 350-450 seats.
The June 5 issue said that construction of Dr. Church’s new theater would get underway the following week. The project had been designed by Pittsburgh architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Thursday, November 19, issue of the daily said that Dr. Church’s new house at the corner of Market and Mill Streets (Mill Street is actually an alley) would open on Saturday. The item didn’t say what would become of Burt’s Theatre.
Here’s adamghost’s link. I agree that the theater had to have been at 18 N. Main. It’s impossible to tell from appearance alone if the building now on the site is entirely new construction or an extreme remodeling of the Rialto’s building, but I’m inclined to think it’s new and the theater has been demolished.
According to the 1962 city directory and a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Gibson Theatre was at 329 S. Main Street. The NCDCR says that it operated there from 1940 through 1978. The Roxy must have been somewhere else, if it was in operation in 1945.
DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section lists a 250-seat African American theater called the Rex (no address given) in operation at Laurinburg in 1926. It might have been the Roxy under an earlier name.
The caption of a photo on page 50 of The Crystal Coast (Google Books preview) says that the City Theatre building was built about 1911, and the house was called the Palace Theatre before becoming the City Theatre. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1976.
The caption of a photo on page 54 of Carteret County, by Linda Sadler and Kevin Jenkins (Google Books preview) give the house the aka Wade Theatre around 1933.
The city directories from the late 1950s-early 1960s give the address of the City Theatre as 719 Arendell Street. I’m sure they are right.
This photo is the opposite view of the photo showing the theater’s front, and it shows the opposite side of the street in the background, behind the car that the theater is giving away. The building at the end of the block, with the Rex Bakery in it, is still standing, and it’s on the even-numbered side of the street.
The angle shows that the City Theatre must have been on what is now a parking lot immediately west of Raps Grill and Bar, so it has been demolished.
While the building at 702 Arendell Street certainly looks as though it could have been a theater at one time, it was not the City Theatre.
The 1962 Laurinburg City Directory lists the Gibson Theatre at 329 S. Main, which is the address we currently use for the Roxy Theatre. 329 S. Main is also the address given for the Gibson Theatre in a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, which says this:
“Downtown Laurinburg’s only building showing obvious influences of the Art Deco style; two-story brick building; full-height pilasters rise to central stepped parapet; stepped parapet on south side; flat, stuccoed facade; central door flanked by plate-glass windows; shingled awning over lower level; four small rectangular windows (covered) in second story of facade; occupied by Gibson Theater from 1940 through 1978.
That’s definitely the building currently displayed in the Street View on the Roxy Theatre’s page. The Roxy must have been somewhere else
The Center Theatre was not at 131 S. Main Street. That building, according to a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources was built in 1938 as a department store. The Center Theatre was in an older building at the southwest corner of Main and Cronly Streets (301 through 311 S. Main:
“Large two- and three-story brick early-twentieth-century commercial design; two- story southern section is six bays wide; another two-story section attached to west side
facing Cronly Street is four bays wide; solid glass second-story windows in two-story
south section; three-story northern section is five bays wide with single and paired
windows (replacement glass) at second and third levels; recessed panels in upper facade; lower level altered with plate-glass display windows and replacement bulkheads; building originally occupied by McNair Buick automobile sales and showroom; later occupied by McLaurin-McArthur Chevrolet dealership; occupied by The Outlet Furniture Store from 1969 through 1983; central unit originally occupied by the Scotland Theater, later known as the Center Theater; corner unit was occupied by the Legion Drug Store for many years; currently divided into three commercial units with offices on the second level; Quick Copy Center in southern section since 1996; Bob’s Jewelers in corner unit for past decade.
As the Scotland Theatre occupied the center section of the building, its address was probably 305-307 S. Main. The building was built in 1924, and the Scotland Theatre was one of the original occupants. 1955 might have been the year it was renamed Center Theatre.
The marquee of the Scotland/Center Theatre can be seen at left in this vintage postcard probably dating from around 1930, when cars were becoming a bit streamlined.
The Strand Theatre was at the southeast corner of Person and Dick Streets. Due to street realignment, its site is now covered partly by the intersection of Person and Franklin Streets, and partly by a triangular park just west of the intersection.
The Strand opened as the New Auditorium in 1908, though it had the name Opera House on its parapet, and it was listed as the Opera House in the 1915-16 Fayetteville City Directory. Later it was known as LaFayette Auditorium, and it eventually became a movie house as the Strand Theatre. It was destroyed by a fire in 1950.
I’ve been unable to discover when it was renamed the Strand, but it must have been after an earlier Strand Theatre, opened on Hay Street in 1916, was either closed or renamed. It was listed as the Strand in both the 1943 and the 1948-49 city directories.
The Colony Theatre was designed by architect Erle G. Stillwell. DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section has some of Stillwell’s plans and drawings of the Colony linked from this web page.
The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News had an item saying that C.W. and George L. Rapp were drawing plans for a fireproof theater on Schuyler Avenue in Kankakee for Mrs. Julia Remington. It didn’t say anything about the house being a replacement for a burned theater, but I’ve found nothing about Mrs. Remington building any other theaters at that time, so the Rapp & Rapp project was most likely the rebuilding of this theater.
The April 13, 1913, issue of The Construction News announced the plans for the Globe Theatre, to be built at 13th and Walnut Street in Kansas City. The owners were Oppenstein Bros., and the architects were Jackson & McIlvain.
Jackson & McIlvain are supposed to have designed a theater at Parsons, Kansas, around 1913, but I’ve been unable to track down its name or any other information about it.
This web page has information from the Cleveland Theatre Scrapbook held by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Links on the left lead to more details.
The Cleveland Theatre was opened in 1885. It was known as the H.R. Jacobs Theatre from 1886 until the mid-1890s when the original name was restored. It became a vaudeville and movie house in 1910, but closed a few months later. It was converted for use by the Union Paper & Twine Co. in late 1910, and the building was destroyed by fire in 1912.
I don’t recall ever having seen a city directory that listed vacant lots, and I’ve seen a lot of city directories. “Vacant” always meant an unoccupied building, and the street numbers of vacant lots are simply left off the list.
If we had access to more 1930s Reidsville directories than just 1932 and 1935, we might find either the New Gem or the Penn Theatre listed in several of them. I would guess that the name change came when the theater reopened, which could have been as early as 1935, if the reopening took place after that year’s directory went to press. The New Gem must have closed before late 1931, which is when information would have been gathered for the 1932 edition.
There are more photos of the Lighthouse Cinema here, at the web site of NBDA Architects, the firm that designed the theater.
A city directory might make a mistake in one edition, but the owner of the business that had been givent he wrong address would be sure to get a correction in the next edition. The Booker T Theatre is listed at 182 N West Market in at least three Reidsville directories (I haven’t checked the ones published after 1955-56.)
I would guess that the theater was probably where the power plant is now. The power plant look and adjacent buildings (which front on Scales Street) look fairly modern to me- probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Judging from the positions of the older buildings to the north and south on West Market Street, it looks like the street’s alignment was shifted forty or fifty feet, too.
I have also come to suspect that the Booker T Theatre could have been the same house that was earlier called the Gem Theatre and then the Penn Theatre. It was listed at 92 N West Market in 1941, but in 1948 it is gone and the Booker T is listed at 182 N West Market. Between 1941 and 1948, Reidsville renumbered its lots, eliminating all one and two-digit addresses. The Penn could have been renamed the Booker T during the same period. Renaming seems more likely than that a new theater would have been built during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the War Production Board.
I suspect that the Gem/Penn Theatre might have been the house that later became the Booker T Theatre. Sometime between 1941 and 1948 Reidsville renumbered its lots, and every lot’s address was increased by approximately 100.
The Penn Theatre is listed at 92 N West Market in the 1941 directory, but the 1948-49 directory has the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market. A renaming seems more likely than the construction of an entirely new theater, especially during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the dictates of the War Production Board.
RK is correct. Reidsville renumbered its lots at some point, and the modern address for the Broadway Theatre’s location is 230 S. Scales Street.
The 1948-49 and 1952-53 Reidsville directories have the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market Street.
Thomas R. Short was the architect of the Sheepshead Theatre, according to an article in the February 1, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
Items about a proposed theater at Mannington, West Virginia, appeared in multiple issues of The Film Daily in 1936. All noted that Dr. C. P. Church, operator of the Burt (or Burt’s) Theatre at Mannington was planning to build a new house ranging from 350-450 seats.
The June 5 issue said that construction of Dr. Church’s new theater would get underway the following week. The project had been designed by Pittsburgh architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Thursday, November 19, issue of the daily said that Dr. Church’s new house at the corner of Market and Mill Streets (Mill Street is actually an alley) would open on Saturday. The item didn’t say what would become of Burt’s Theatre.
Here’s adamghost’s link. I agree that the theater had to have been at 18 N. Main. It’s impossible to tell from appearance alone if the building now on the site is entirely new construction or an extreme remodeling of the Rialto’s building, but I’m inclined to think it’s new and the theater has been demolished.
According to the 1962 city directory and a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Gibson Theatre was at 329 S. Main Street. The NCDCR says that it operated there from 1940 through 1978. The Roxy must have been somewhere else, if it was in operation in 1945.
DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section lists a 250-seat African American theater called the Rex (no address given) in operation at Laurinburg in 1926. It might have been the Roxy under an earlier name.
The caption of a photo on page 50 of The Crystal Coast (Google Books preview) says that the City Theatre building was built about 1911, and the house was called the Palace Theatre before becoming the City Theatre. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1976.
The caption of a photo on page 54 of Carteret County, by Linda Sadler and Kevin Jenkins (Google Books preview) give the house the aka Wade Theatre around 1933.
The city directories from the late 1950s-early 1960s give the address of the City Theatre as 719 Arendell Street. I’m sure they are right.
This photo is the opposite view of the photo showing the theater’s front, and it shows the opposite side of the street in the background, behind the car that the theater is giving away. The building at the end of the block, with the Rex Bakery in it, is still standing, and it’s on the even-numbered side of the street.
The angle shows that the City Theatre must have been on what is now a parking lot immediately west of Raps Grill and Bar, so it has been demolished.
While the building at 702 Arendell Street certainly looks as though it could have been a theater at one time, it was not the City Theatre.
The 1962 Laurinburg City Directory lists the Gibson Theatre at 329 S. Main, which is the address we currently use for the Roxy Theatre. 329 S. Main is also the address given for the Gibson Theatre in a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, which says this:
That’s definitely the building currently displayed in the Street View on the Roxy Theatre’s page. The Roxy must have been somewhere elseThe Center Theatre was not at 131 S. Main Street. That building, according to a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources was built in 1938 as a department store. The Center Theatre was in an older building at the southwest corner of Main and Cronly Streets (301 through 311 S. Main:
As the Scotland Theatre occupied the center section of the building, its address was probably 305-307 S. Main. The building was built in 1924, and the Scotland Theatre was one of the original occupants. 1955 might have been the year it was renamed Center Theatre.The marquee of the Scotland/Center Theatre can be seen at left in this vintage postcard probably dating from around 1930, when cars were becoming a bit streamlined.
The Strand Theatre was at the southeast corner of Person and Dick Streets. Due to street realignment, its site is now covered partly by the intersection of Person and Franklin Streets, and partly by a triangular park just west of the intersection.
The Strand opened as the New Auditorium in 1908, though it had the name Opera House on its parapet, and it was listed as the Opera House in the 1915-16 Fayetteville City Directory. Later it was known as LaFayette Auditorium, and it eventually became a movie house as the Strand Theatre. It was destroyed by a fire in 1950.
I’ve been unable to discover when it was renamed the Strand, but it must have been after an earlier Strand Theatre, opened on Hay Street in 1916, was either closed or renamed. It was listed as the Strand in both the 1943 and the 1948-49 city directories.
This is an early photo of the New Auditorium from the New York Public Library digital image collection. The view is south across Person Street, with Dick Street at the right.
Here is the modern Street View of the theater’s location.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to earlier says that the Miracle Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of Wooten, Wooten & Crosby.
Three of architect Erle G. Stillwell’s plans and drawings of the Broadway Theatre are linked from this page at DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section.
The Colony Theatre was designed by architect Erle G. Stillwell. DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section has some of Stillwell’s plans and drawings of the Colony linked from this web page.
According to the NRHP registration form for the Cascade Theatre, the United Artists triplex at Mount Shasta Mall was opened in 1975.
The Regal St.Louis Mills Stadium 18 was designed by Kansas City architectural firm TK Architects.
Edwards Fresno Stadium 22 was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm TK Architects, headed by Ted Knapp, AIA.
Fridley opened a new, 10-screen multiplex in Muscatine on March 14, 2013, and the Plaza 4 Theatre was closed on May 2.