Granada Theatre

Jack Theakston on September 4, 2014 at 11:39 am

The American was, indeed, the original name of the theater. It was constructed in 1912 and opened sometime between January and February of 1913. As mentioned in the article above, it was constructed at a cost of $150,000 by H. A. Sims of the Liberty Theatre Company, who by earlier accounts had been in the business since 1903. The Liberty Theatre company was made up primarily of bankers and businessmen from the area. The seating capacity was 3,000. The American had a 16-piece orchestra, conducted by J. J. McClellan, previously the organist of the Mormon Tabernacle. McClellan conducted from the $30,000 Kimball organ installed.

The American was taken over in June of 1928 by the American Theatre Operating Co. of Ogden, A. L. Glassman, president. The theater was extensively remodeled in the then-popular Spanish Renaissance style by Arthur Shreve of Ogden. It re-opened as the Granada on March 8, 1929, with sound film equipment installed. The re-opening feature was THE IRON MASK with Douglas Fairbanks.

A mere two months later, on March 16, 1929, the Granada was sold to W. T. Grant’s, which re-opened the converted space in January 1930. Grant’s closed sometime in the ‘70s, I believe. The site is now Gallivan Plaza.

TLSLOEWS on December 22, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Nice place.Who cleans it up? The Real spelling of Theatre is Theatre.But it works both ways!!!!Look at the old pictures it is always spelled theatre. But like the masks of old time Theatres one is happy one is sad.Thats show business!