Legion Theater

DavidZornig on January 25, 2023 at 3:45 pm

1924 photo added credit Steuben County Historical Society.

Joe Vogel on January 9, 2017 at 1:41 am

The September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World mentions this theater:

“The American Legion post in Wayland certainly deserves much in the way of complimentary expression. Through the sale of stock, the Post has erected a beautiful building which provides quarters for a picture theatre itself, rooms for meeting purposes, the village library and a restroom.”

The project had been built within the previous two years, as indicated by this notice in the March 11, 1922, issue of The American Contractor:

“Center (community): $50,000. 2 sty. & bas. 60x150. Wayland, N. Y. Archt. Carl Ade, 344 East av., Rochester. Owner Theodore R Van Tassel, Post of the American Legion, Thos. Capron, pres., Wayland. Gen. contr. let on percentage basis to A. J. Wordein, Elizabeth St., Dansville, N. Y. Work starts abt. Mar. 20.”

Architect Carl Ade, who died in 1962, specialized in school buildings, designing over 350 of them in New York State. As far as I know, this was the only movie theater of his design, though he did work with Grand Rapids architect E. Eugene Osgood on the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, though most likely only as supervising architect.