Towne Theatre

DavidZornig on March 23, 2020 at 10:45 am

Crisper version of the 1934 photo added, courtesy Steve Oare.

Joe Vogel on December 22, 2014 at 7:47 pm

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:

“Fire Destroys Smalley’s Johnstown House

“Smalley’s theatre in Johnstown, N. Y., operated by William Smalley, of Cooperstown, owner of a chain of a dozen or more motion picture theatres, in New York state, was burned to the ground on the afternoon of January 1, with the resultant loss of over $200,000. The fire was one of the most spectacular in many months in the Mohawk Valley. Firemen from both Johnstown and Gloversville fought the blaze for three hours or more with zero temperature prevailing. The blaze is thought to have originated from a defective pipe in the boiler room. It was discovered about one-half hour before the matinee. The fire was then working its way through the floor and the crackling was noticed by the janitor and the house electrician, the only two persons who were in the theatre at the time.

“The theatre was built in 1889 and was being operated by Mr. Smalley under a twenty-year lease. There was over 11,000 feet of film stored in the booth and this added impetus to the flames as they swept upward and through the building. Adjoining structures were also damaged.”

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.

Joe Vogel on February 5, 2013 at 9:36 pm

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.

kencmcintyre on February 8, 2008 at 9:37 am

This one does. Circa 1930:
http://tinyurl.com/35ezob

ERD on March 31, 2004 at 11:45 am

For many years Smalley’s remained the only theatre in Johnstown. It was built on the site of the old Grand theatre.