Park Theater

The Park Theater launched in 1909 in a wide building on at 4609 Butler Street. That year, it hosted 200 Lawrenceville newsies for a free screening accompanied by a variety of contests. The venue stressed live amateur acts and placed films between acts in its earliest days. A neighboring soda fountain / ice cream parlor and confectionery by J.G. Newcomer served as the de facto concession stand.

The Park Theater’s first two years of promotional efforts were via horse and carriage going around the neighborhood to promote its shows. It had competition a block away from the Model Theatre that had also opened in 1909 and, in 1914, the Arsenal Theatre about five blocks away. The Park Theater continued with longer films in the 1910’s and into the early-1920’s while still continuing its policy of inviting local amateurs to its stage until the theater’s closure (although the talent shows were reduced to just once a week on Thursday nights). The Park Theatre also offered orchestral lessons when the theater wasn’t showing films.

The venue was sold by the Brighton Amusement Company to Nathan Rosen and A. Joseph along with the Model Theatre a block away in 1922. But the theater was outflanked by the larger Arsenal Theatre that had put in a new pipe organ in 1923 under chain operation and the decision to place a new Wurlitzer organ in the Model Theatre in 1923.

The dated Park Theater was shuttered, sold to a new interest who converted the building to the Lawrence Park Garage that same year. Some 100 years later, the Lawrence Park Garage’s signage remains as the former theater turned garage was still standing as of the 2020’s quite recognizable as a former theater and used for some sort of automotive service.

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