Shelby Theatre
610 Main Street,
Shelbyville,
KY
40065
610 Main Street,
Shelbyville,
KY
40065
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Chakeres Theaters Inc., Theatrical Managers Inc.
Architects: Leslie V. Abbott
Functions: Retail
Previous Names: Bon-Ton Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The 1919-built Bon-Ton Theatre had 250 seats. It was remodeled in 1934 and was renamed Shelby Theatre with 600 seats. It was damaged by a fire in 1945. Repairs were carried out to the plans of architect Leslie V. Abbott and in 1950 it was listed with 1,000 seats. It was closed in 1968.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The correct address of the Shelby Theatre was 610 Main Street, according to an article in the July 10, 2013, issue of the Sentinel-News (page 13 of this PDF.) The article quotes local historian Nancy Hill:
The building is currently occupied by a clothing store called The Tipsy Gypsy.I’ve found references to the Shelby Theatre from 1937, so the name change definitely predated 1945. The photos of the Shelby’s facade look like late-deco, early-streamlined style, so the 1934 name change claimed by Nancy Hill, cited in my earlier comment, seems a likely time for that facade to have been built. It would have been decidedly old fashioned by 1947, when Boxoffice said the house had opened following a fire in 1945.
I’ve been unable to find the Boxoffice item about the rebuilding that was cited by kencmcintyre in the first comment on this house, but a January 12, 1946, item in Showmen’s Trade Review mentions the fire:
The claim of the house being a year old was surely an error, considering an item from the October 5 issue of The Film Daily, which said: “The Chakeres circuit has just completed remodeling of the Shelby Theater, Shelbyville, Ky., at a cost of 5,000….” The remodeling, along with the fact that Chakeres actually did have a new theater under construction in Shalbyville in the fall of 1945, probably contributed to the magazine’s confusion. The new Chakeres house was the Burley, a few doors up the block from the Shelby.Closed in 1968.