Rex Theatre

According to the Twin Falls Times News, D.W. Evilson opened the Rex Theatre in 1938 in the Brush building. The First State Bank of Richfield, next door, was built in 1908 and the lodge hall addition and future theater may have been built later although both buildings were on the Sanborn Insurance Maps of 1909. There was also an earlier American Theatre in Richfield, located kitty corner from the Rex Theatre, which was already closed by 1938.

In 1946 new DeVry projection and sound equipment was installed, which was said to be equal to the best found in any large showhouse.

On November 10, 1955, the Times-News reported that the day before, on a Wednesday night, burglars stole $2,108.25 in coins from the Continental State Bank. They dug through a 2-foot thick double wall between the theater and the vault of the adjacent bank. The thieves were able to carry out this deed because the theater was only open on weekends. The crime was discovered the next morning when the bank opened. It was theorized that the burglars were not professional and perhaps novices as they left behind the cash. One man was later found with some of the money and sent to prison. Strangely, it was reported that the lock on the theater door had been broken for a week. Ironically on November 17, 1957, the Time-News reported that the bank was broke into again but not through the theater.

In April of 2003 the Zion Bank donated the building to the Richfield school district.

The former bank, with a missing second story and the lot where the Rex Theatre once stood can still be seen in Richfield today. The Film Daily Yearbook of 1950-51 listed the theater with 222 seats.

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