Manhattan Theatre

299 Chestnut Street,
Meadville, PA 16335

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 14, 2021 at 4:54 pm

The item about the opening of the Manhattan Theatre cited in my previous comment was from the July 9, 1910 issue of Moving Picture World.

The 1970 obituary of a Mr. Roy M. Stevens says that “[f]or six years he owned and operated the Manhattan Theater in Meadville….” It doesn’t give the years, and I’ve been unable to find Stevens mentioned in theater trade journals.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 12, 2021 at 4:49 pm

The Manhattan Theatre opened in 1910. Here is an item from an issue of Moving Picture World for which I’ve so far been unable to find the date, but it appears to have been in July.

“Meadville, Pa. — Meadville’s new moving picture theatorium, under the name of the Manhattan Theater, conducted by Spauldlng & Balizet, in the Derickson block, opposite the new post-office, opened for the first time yesterday. The room, which is 70 by 24 feet, has been repapered and the woodwork painted, electric lights installed, and the place is all brand new. Light opera seats have been put in, and the seating capacity is 252. The canvas on which the pictures are thrown is 14 by 12 feet, so that a good view is offered for every seat in the room.”
The 1910 post office is at 296 Chestnut Street. There are several buildings in the neighborhood that were built by members of the Derickson family, but I’ve been unable to pin down the addresses of any of them. However, a 1922 Sanborn map shows that only two of the storefronts in only one of the buildings across from the post office has the dimensions of the theater, 24 x 70 feet, but as no theater is noted on either of them, the Manhattan must have been closed by that year. The map shows 297 Chestnut as a grocery store, and 299 as a news stand. Today the first is a bar and the second a restaurant, but one or the other must have been the theater. Unfortunately, a 1912 Sanborn available online stops just north of this block, but maybe the LOC will be able to add that page someday. Google street view here.