Lyric Theatre

The Temple Theatre had the distinction of being the first movie house in Wilburton. It launched January 3, 1908 in the store-show era in an existing retail building. It featured a change of programming every third day and had three marketing slogans. One of the first was, The Temple Theatre: “Why not?” You couldn’t argue with that one. It was also known as “The House of Amusement for Wilburton.”

The Temple Theatre got competition from the Theatorium which changed films every two days meaning that it had fresher films. So the Temple Theatre went with its final slogan appealing to the higher quality of its films saying, “As good pictures as you will see if you visit New York, Paris, or London.”

On May 27, 1910, the venue’s name was changed to the Delma Theatre. The front of the theatre was modernized and the screen was moved to accommodate more seating. It retained the “New York, Paris….” slogan.

The Delma Theatre would move across the street but the Main Street building would house one last theatre known as the Lyric Theatre. It launched January 9, 1914 with new projection and a third new front for the building. Choate’s Kandy Kitchen moved next door to be the short-lived, de factor concessionaire for the theatre. But the Lyric Theatre did not survive the entirety of 1914 -perhaps closing in May of 1914 - ending the building’s run housing a movie theatre.

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