Lambert Theatre

Joe Vogel on March 10, 2019 at 1:24 am

The May 1, 1937 issue of Motion Picture Herald has this brief item:

“F. A. Lambert contemplates the erection of a new theatre in Princeton, Mo., to replace a structure recently destroyed by fire.”

This turned out not to be the last fire in the Lambert’s history. The August 17, 1965 issue of the Jefferson City Daily Capital News reported that Princeton’s only movie theater, the Lambert, had been destroyed by a fire following the previous Sunday’s matinée. The two-story brick building had recently been rewired, and it was thought a fault in the wiring had caused the blaze. The adjacent Farmers State Bank and Lowry-Miller Lumber Company buildings suffered only smoke damage.

The Lambert was not located on Washington Street but in the 700 block of W. Hickland Street. The Farmers State Bank building on the corner of Washington and Hickland is still there, now occupied by a branch of U.S. Bank, which has built an addition on the theater’s site. The lumber company building, which had also been rebuilt following the 1936 fire, is also still there, but blocked by a big truck in Google’s street view so I don’t know what is in it.

The Past Times in Princeton Missouri Facebook page has this photo showing the corner of the square with the Lambert Theatre down the block, sometime around 1950.