Maxton Theatre
100 Water Street,
Maxton,
NC
28364
100 Water Street,
Maxton,
NC
28364
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The building that housed the Maxton Theatre was built as a general store circa 1898. The store was converted for use as a movie theatre in 1939. The Maxton Theatre operated into the 1950’s. The building is now part of a historic district in Maxton, North Carolina.
Contributed by
Ridgewood Ken
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Whoever did the NRHP listing completely screwed this up. The building is on Water St. Theater was in 100, which is the right hand storefront of the block. Currently the entire building is a hardware store. It was built in three stages (you can see subtle differences in the brick) between 1898 and 1910. 100, home of the theater, was built first.
I uploaded a picture which shows a little bit of the theater. It was very late in the day when I came through, and I didn’t take any of the whole block, or the theater front. It’s better than nothing, but only just.
Another note about this theater. Not only was the balcony segregated, which was typical in the Jim Crow south, but there was a divider running down the middle to keep Native Americans further segregated.
The “Theaters Planned” column of Film Daily for July 21, 1939 had this item datelined Maxton: “Maxton, 300 seats, City Square; Builder: M. S. Weaver; Architect: M. S. Weaver; Cost: $3,500; Operator: James Finch.”
A 300-seat Maxton Theatre is listed in the 1926 FDY, but this was probably at a different location. The 1914-1915 AMPD lists two houses at Maxton: the Theato, no location given, and the Gem, located on Main Street, which was the former name of today’s McKaskill Avenue. Only one theater appears on the 1919 Sanborn map of Maxton, on Main Street at what would be approximately the modern address 250 McKaskill Avenue. This was more likely the Gem, and probably became the first Maxton Theatre. The building, which had offices and a lodge hall on the upper floor, has been demolished.