Towne Theatre
20 N. Market Street,
Johnstown,
NY
12095
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Smalley's Theaters Inc.
Architects: O.H. Williams, T.H. Williams
Previous Names: Smalley's Johnstown Theatre, Smalley's Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Smalley’s Johnstown Theatre was built on the site of the Grand Theatre, and opened in 1928. The theatre featured vaudeville, special stage events, and movies during its long history. By 1941 it was known as Smalley’s Theatre. It was renamed Towne Theatre in 1960, and closed in the 1970’s. The auditorium has been demolished, but the front of the building survives.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
For many years Smalley’s remained the only theatre in Johnstown. It was built on the site of the old Grand theatre.
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/35vtep
This one does. Circa 1930:
http://tinyurl.com/35ezob
The picture comes from JOHNSTOWN (Images of America) by Lewis G. Decker.Published by Arcadia.
Smalley’s Johnstown Theatre was built in 1928 on the site of the Grand Theatre, which burned early that year.
The obituary of Hazel Smalley, widow of William Smalley, was published in the February 5, 1969, issue of the Leader-Herald newspaper. It said that Smalley’s Johnstown Theatre had been renamed the Towne Theatre in 1960.
I lived on Market st in Johnstown for a few years and this building is still there it is now stores with apartments upstairs. I know this because in Lewis Deckers book of Johnstown, The picture of smalleys says that it was across the street from the YMCA, the YMCA building is still there, this building has very unique molding design below its windows on the upper stories it is a round flower shaped design, these are still on the building today. The last time I saw it one section of the building was painted a different color than the rest, probably denoting a different owner. I will try the next time I go to visit my mother to get a photograph of it.
This is the report from the January 7, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News on the destruction by fire of Smalley’s Theatre in Johnstown, New York:
Although the report says that the house was burned to the ground, the front section of the building must have survived. The building now at this address is in the Queen Anne style, popular in the 1870s and 1880s. This web page has a photo of Smalley’s that must have dated from before the fire, as it shows the building with four bay windows across the front instead of the three it now has. The site of the demolished bay, which was occupied by the theater’s entrance, is now occupied by an alley.It’s likely that the original auditorium of the theater was completely destroyed by the fire, but the facade in the vintage photo is clearly the same one that is still partly intact. However, Google’s satellite view shows that a parking lot has replaced the theater’s auditorium. The awkward placement of the four bays seen in the vintage photo suggests that the original theater was built behind an existing structure, and the fourth bay was added to accommodate the theater entrance at that time. The new auditorium must have occupied the same spot, but it too has now been demolished.
I think that the Smalley’s Theatre destroyed in 1928 was the former Johnstown Opera House/Grand Opera House, just as the page with the vintage photo says it was. The MPN article says that Smalley’s had been built in 1889, which is the right time for it to have been the Opera house. The original Opera House was designed by Leon H. Lempert, but I haven’t been able to discover who designed Smalley’s New Johnstown Theatre which replaced it.
Architects were T.H. and O.H. Williams, Utica-based architects OPerated by the Mohawk Valley Circuit — one of 14 theaters owned by William C. Smalley
Crisper version of the 1934 photo added, courtesy Steve Oare.