Rialto Theater
151 5th Street,
Renovo,
PA
17764
151 5th Street,
Renovo,
PA
17764
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PHOTO ADDED While staying at a B & B in Lock Haven PA I noticed this window card on the wall from the RIALTO in RENOVA Not to be mistaken with the RIALTO in Canton.
This was built sometime between 1892 and 1897. It was originally Kane’s Theatre, but the name was changed to Renovo sometime between 1905 and 1911. The 1905 Cahn guide gives the capacity as 800, and the owner as John Kane. The structure on the 1925 map appears identical (no name is given). This can’t be the 1919 theater. Just an empty lot today, so this needs to be listed as demolished.
The building housing the Rialto Theater was heavily destroyed by a fire the week of November 22, 1972, accodrding to an article in the Lock Haven Express. Not sure if it was ever rebuilt.
It could be (1) the Renovo Theatre of pre-1914 vintage became the Rialto Theatre or (2) The Renovo Theatre was demolished and a new Rialto Theatre built on the site in 1919.
I have added a page for the Strand Theatre and opted for option (1), giving the Strand Theatre a 1919 opening.
Department Reports of Pennsylvania, covering the year 1919, lists an unnamed theater at Renovo, plans for which were approved in March. The 1983 American Classic Images photo of the Rialto to which kencmcintyre linked in the previous comment shows a building very typical of the late 1910s and early 1920s, so there’s a possibility the 1919 report referred to this house.
The Rialto is listed in the 1931 FDY, along with a 400-seat house called the Strand (both houses are also listed, without seating capacities, in the 1926 Yearbook.) Renovo is quite small (population 3,906 in 1931) and is unlikely to have ever had more than two theaters of this size at once, so the 1919 project was probably one or the other. Whichever it was, it was designed by architect Guy H. Colony for owner Omar Fisher.
Here is a 1983 photo of the Rialto:
http://tinyurl.com/cpskww