This theater closed when I was quite young. I remember going there a couple of times. There was a balcony. The owner of the Bellevue also owned the Welden a few doors away.
Chuck Drinkwater was one of the owners and he told me that getting good films was difficult because of the ownership of the Welden Theatre downtown had a number of theaters and more power to get the top films. I went there four times. “Fear is the Key” was the other opening feature (I went to that one). I also saw “Sleuth” there.
Prouty’s IGA acquired the theater building after it closed and joined the two buildings together. Sometime later, the store was acquired by Blouin’s IGA in St. Albans. It closed a number of years ago and the original IGA building to the left was torn down. A bakery and restaurant now occupy the lower level of the theater building. I was in town on 7/16/25.
Update. I revisited Dover today. The Strand Theatre still stands and at 38 Third Street in Ross Furniture. The next lot—which surely was at the address cited for the Lyric is where a building once stood. A construction/chain link fence surrounds the lot. There is a modern building at the intersection of Third and Chestnut, but nothing else in between.
A building at this address was the Asia Chinese Restaurant. It was listed for sale and the building date was given as 1920–however, realtor listings sometimes use estimates for construction dates if they aren’t 100 percent sure. It’s possible that this was the Lyric Theatre building. I plan to visit the neighborhood in the near future.
I photographed a drive-in screen from the train in December 2024. It was south of the tracks. Perhaps this is the same one.
This was incorporated into the Cornerstone Restaurant. The restaurant has been gone for many years. I lived in St. Albans from 1958-73 and 1979-93.
This theater closed when I was quite young. I remember going there a couple of times. There was a balcony. The owner of the Bellevue also owned the Welden a few doors away.
Chuck Drinkwater was one of the owners and he told me that getting good films was difficult because of the ownership of the Welden Theatre downtown had a number of theaters and more power to get the top films. I went there four times. “Fear is the Key” was the other opening feature (I went to that one). I also saw “Sleuth” there.
Prouty’s IGA acquired the theater building after it closed and joined the two buildings together. Sometime later, the store was acquired by Blouin’s IGA in St. Albans. It closed a number of years ago and the original IGA building to the left was torn down. A bakery and restaurant now occupy the lower level of the theater building. I was in town on 7/16/25.
Update. I revisited Dover today. The Strand Theatre still stands and at 38 Third Street in Ross Furniture. The next lot—which surely was at the address cited for the Lyric is where a building once stood. A construction/chain link fence surrounds the lot. There is a modern building at the intersection of Third and Chestnut, but nothing else in between.
A building at this address was the Asia Chinese Restaurant. It was listed for sale and the building date was given as 1920–however, realtor listings sometimes use estimates for construction dates if they aren’t 100 percent sure. It’s possible that this was the Lyric Theatre building. I plan to visit the neighborhood in the near future.
I was there today. It it now a Talbot’s retail store.