Grand Theatre
141 N. Main Street,
Mount Airy,
NC
27030
141 N. Main Street,
Mount Airy,
NC
27030
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The Grand Theatre was opened in 1928. It was operated by Mr. E.Q. Benbow and Mr. P.A. Boone. The Grand Theatre seated a total of 751 patreons between the first floor and the balcony. The theatre had a long narrow entrance and lobby with the auditorium sitting in the back of the building.
Originally the address was 63 S. Main Street with the Grand Theatre Building being 62 ½ S. Main Street. By 1954 there were street and number changes made and the theatre wound up with the current address. The current address maps properly. In the 1950’s the theatre was operated by Stewart and Everett. It was closed in 1957. The lobby portion of the building now houses a check cashing business.
If you have any further history or comments on the Grand Theatre that you would like to add feel free to do so.
Contributed by
Stpehen
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Street View is currently facing the wrong side of the street. The Grand Theatre’s entrance was up the block on the left, in the building that now sports a banner reading CASH-A-CHECK. The entrance lobby was very long, and the auditorium extended to the left at the end of it, behind the stores along the block, as seen in the satellite view.
This page from the Organ Historical Society lists a Kilgen & Son organ installed in the Paramount Grand Theatre / Benbow Theatre in Mount Airy in 1928. It must have been this theater, though Internet searches fetch no other instances of the name Paramount Grand Theatre. In the 1931 city directory it’s just the Grand Theatre.
On the 1916 Sanborn map, 63 S.Main is listed as vacant, and the auditorium of the Grand Theatre does not exist. It doesn’t appear on the 1922 map either. It’s possible that the building the Princess occupied became part of the lobby of the Grand, but it doesn’t appear to have been a theater after the Princess closed in 1916.
If the building the Princess occupied was demolished to make way for the construction of the Grand’s lobby, then the Princess should certainly have its own page, as a theater can’t be listed as both demolished and still standing.
If the building the Princess was in was converted into the Grand’s lobby, even though the Grand was opened twelve years after the Princess closed, it could work either way. If you want to submit the Princess, though, I’d say go ahead, and Ken Roe can make the call about whether or not to add a new page for it or just add the information to this page.