Elite Theater
Clarksville,
TN
37040
No one has favorited this theater yet
Map
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Crescent Amusement Co.
Nearby Theaters
No theaters found within 30 miles
The Elite Theater was opened in 1911 . Following an enlargement and remodeling, it reopened May 12, 1912. The Elite Theater was still open in May 1916.
Contributed by
Jack Coursey
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The May 13, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Crescent Amusement Company had been operating the Elite Theatre at Clarksville for several years. The company was planning to replace the theater with a new building, which was being designed by architects Marr & Holman. The new theater, to be located at Third and Franklin Streets, and seating about 1000, was to be completed within four months.
I’ve been unable to discover whether the new theater was built or not. If it was, it might have opened under a different name. In any case, the Elite Theatre was still in operation at least as late as May, 1916.
Opened May 5th, 1912 article:
Elite theatre opening · Thu, May 9, 1912 – 1 · The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville, Tennessee) · The Leaf Chronicle
Correction. It reopened on May 10th, 1912. It opened (or mentioned in the newspaper) in 1911.
Archives are missing for late 1916. Was this theatre renamed Majestic during this period?
The Majestic was a new theater built in 1916 by Crescent Amusement as a replacement for the Elite. As we don’t have an address for the Elite we don’t know if the Majestic was on the same site or not. It’s possible that the Elite was at another location and was merely closed and converted to another use when the Majestic opened.
I wonder if this isn’t one of the theaters I just added. There were theaters at 106 and 108 Franklin. The other two I added were open by 1908, closed by 1913, and can’t be this one.
A theater at 3rd and Franklin could have been on any corner except the NW. The entire block north of the old courthouse was replaced by a hulking monstrosity after the 1999 tornado. The building on the SE corner looks old, but does not look like a theater at all. It’s not what was there on the 1913 map. NE corner looks about the right age, and definitely is not what was there in 1913. It doesn’t really look like a theater, especially not a 1,000 seater. NW corner has been there since the 1890s.