Richardson Theatre
117 E. North 1st Street,
Seneca,
SC
29678
117 E. North 1st Street,
Seneca,
SC
29678
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I forgot to mention in my comment what brought me here to begin with. It was this item from Manufacturers Record of April 14, 1919, about a theater to be built in Seneca: “S. C., Seneca.-W. T. Edwards and Dr. W. F. Austin; $40,000 moving-picture theater; 3 stores offices on 2d floor; day labor; Casey & Fant, Archts., Anderson, S. C.”
The dance studio at 117 E. North 1st street is adjacent to a building with three matching storefronts, though they have no second floors with offices in them. The second floors might have been removed, of course, but more likely the developers decided that economic conditions at the time they were built didn’t justify the expense of building them. The buildings have a high degree of design integrity, and are characteristic of the period around 1919. I think this building probably is the project noted in the magazine, minus the second floors.
Architects Casey & Fant (Joseph Huntley Casey and Charles William Fant Sr.) have one other theater already attributed to them at Cinema Treasures, the Imperial, in their home town of Anderson.
I suspect that the Star Theatre operated under that name only until some time 1927. A Richardson Theatre is listed at Seneca in the 1928 FDY, with 250 seats, and is advertised in the October 17, 1928 issue of The Tiger, student newspaper of Clemson College. In 1926, the FDY lists only the Star Theatre at Seneca, with 250 seats. It’s listed again in 1927, but I’ve checked FDYs for 1928, 1929, 1930, 1936, 1940 and 1950, and the Star Theatre never appears again.
The only 400-seat theater I’ve seen listed at Seneca in the FDY is a house called the YMCA Theatre, listed in 1927 through 1929. I suspect that the Star only ever had 250 seats, was renamed Richardson Theatre in 1927, and was replaced by a new Richardson Theatre in 1935 (first listed, with 500 seats, in the 1936 FDY) and the old theater building was converted to some other use at that time or soon after. I’ve been unable to discover anything about the YMCA Theatre.
The Star Theatre at Seneca, North Carolina, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Richardson, is mentioned in the March 5, 1924, issue of Motion Picture News. Kenneth Richardson opened the Richardson Theatre at Seneca in 1935.