Plaza Theatre
1014 Garrison Avenue,
Fort Smith,
AR
72901
1014 Garrison Avenue,
Fort Smith,
AR
72901
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Malco Theatres Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.
Architects: Edward F. Brueggeman, Guy W. Swaim
Firms: Brueggeman, Swaim & Allen
Previous Names: Mystic Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Mystic Theatre was one of six theatres along Garrison Avenue. It was located on Garrison just North of 10th Street. It was opened on October 17, 1925 with Margaret Livingston in “The Wheel”. Later it was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary M.A. Lightman. Following a partial demolition and refurbishment in September 1940, it was taken over by Malco Theatres and reopened on October 26, 1940 as the renamed Plaza Theatre, screening “Ghost Valley Raiders” starring Don ‘Red’ Barry & “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” starring Gurney Bell. It was still open in 1950 operated by Malco Theatres. It was closed on January 28, 1968 with Glenn Ford in “Last Challenge”.
It has been demolished and a new building on the site which has retail and office space.
Information obtained from the Arkansas Historical Society magazine.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The Plaza was named for the Fort Smith Plaza Park that was located across Garrison Avenue from the theater. By 1940 the park had been replaced by the local Greyhound bus depot and a DX gasoline station. The theater was a remodeled storefront. In the 1940’s it was a second-run B movie grindhouse. Adult ticket prices were 22 cents, five cents less than the New Theater, the first-run B movie theater, that was one block away.
The street number given probably is wrong. A Google street view on September 10, 2010, shows that the former theater location and a number of adjacent stores and a bar is now a parking lot. The theater was only about two doors west of Towson Avenue.
In September, 2010, the building that originally housed the Plaza Theater, a barber shop, a bar, and several stores had been torn down to provide parking for a new Post Office branch that was built in 1994. I was wrong in my earlier comment. The given street number is correct.
First known as the Mystic Theatre, renamed Plaza Theatre on October 26, 1940.
The Mystic theatre opened on October 17th, 1925 and reopened by Malco theatres as the Plaza theatre on October 26th, 1940. Grand opening ads posted.
1940 grand opening ad:
Plaza Theatre opening 25 Oct 1940, Fri Fort Smith Times Record (Fort Smith, Arkansas) Newspapers.com
The 1940 partial demolition of the Mystic to create the Plaza Theatre began in September of 1940 to the plans of Little Rock architects Brueggerman, Swaim and Allen. It appears to have closed following a January 28, 1968 of Angie Dickinson in “Last Challenge.” Their plans are in photos.