Liberty Theatre
114 N. 4th Avenue,
Pasco,
WA
99301
114 N. 4th Avenue,
Pasco,
WA
99301
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Midstate Amusement Corp.
Architects: J.E. Doughty, Edwin Walker Houghton
Functions: Office Space
Previous Names: Cord Theatre, Showbox Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Aug 17, 2013 — Liberty burns down - no cause found
- Mar 20, 2012 — Pasco's Liberty Theater to be refurbished into retail space
The Cord Theatre was opened on October 11, 1914 with Pantages Circuit vaudeville. In 1939 it was renamed Liberty Theatre and was operated by Midstate Amusement Corp. It was closed in November 1971.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Another look at the theater, this time a front view, circa 1940’s. Pasco was once part of Yakima County, thus its placement on a Yakima-based page, but the roof in this photo is the same as it is today, in its present state. http://www.yakimamemory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/memory&CISOPTR=2579&CISOBOX=1&REC=5
The theater was destroyed by an August 14, 2013 fire. :(
Hello-
i’m sorry to hear of the theater being gutted by fire especially since the structure could have been renovated and saved. as we say in NYC i bet it was “a business fire”. whenever an historic renovatable building in NYC is gutted by fire that always my guess as to what happened.
That’s what I said too when it happened last week. Initial reports had said that police noticed the back entrance was opened, but also didn’t say if that door had been opened beforehand. It was a few days away from getting a public inspection that would’ve made it possible for the new owners to open their mini-mall in there. However, a new article posted at the Tri-City Herald states that the fire may have been due to electrical issues. I’m not sure if that is true, although if the owner was that close from an inspection, this obviously meant that he failed. Here’s the article in question. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/08/20/2531701/liberty-theater-building-blaze.html
Yes, it apparently was just a few days from reopening.
It sounds like the fire was at the Liberty Theater nearby—I just checked out the old Pasco Theater, and the outside looks pretty good.
1943 photo added credit Vintage Tri-Cities Facebook page.
The Liberty Theatre building was not destroyed by the 2013 fire, though the roof was damaged beyond repair. A permit for the installation of new roof trusses was issued by the city in February, 2014. The city itself paid for emergency repairs to prevent the walls from collapsing. As NoReturn (second comment back) saw the building still standing in 2016, the repairs apparently succeeded. 114 N. 4th Avenue, #B, is currently the office of American Family Insurance, so I would guess the repaired building has been divided into space for at least two offices.
The two year delay in construction following the original announcement of the theater project in 1912 led to a change of architects. This item is from the February 12, 1914, issue of Engineering News:
The theater was of course between Lewis and Clark Streets, and I doubt if it cost anywhere near the $300,000 the item claimed, but despite the name “Pasco Playhouse” the item surely is about the Cord/Liberty.Doughty’s involvement in the project is confirmed by this fairly detailed history of the Liberty Theatre written by Sarah LeCompte in 1984. LeCompte doesn’t mention the name Showbox Theatre, but does in the opening paragraph call it the Liberty-Playtime Theatre.
A new veneer has been added and some of the original features have restored.
The Cord Theatre opened its doors on October 11, 1914 with an unknown vaudeville by the Pantages Circuit. It was first operated by E.W. Trenbeth. It was renamed the Liberty Theatre in 1939.
The Liberty Theatre was a first-run movie house for most of its life, but in 1971, the Liberty Theatre briefly began screening X-rated movies as well as selected Spanish features.
This didn’t last long, and the Liberty Theatre closed for the final time in November 1971. It was originally scheduled to be closed for two weeks due to repairs, but it never reopened.