Theatorium
29 Main Street,
Bradford,
PA
16701
29 Main Street,
Bradford,
PA
16701
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Rats. I confused the Bradford and Brantford Theatoriums. The one in Canada had the explosion, and was replaced by a house called the Gem. The Pennsylvania Theatorium just got sold to new owners in 1909.
As for the Gem noted in the Bradford Landmarks newsletter, that publication cites no sources, so there’s no way to check them. I’ve found no other text references to a Gem Theatre in Bradford, but the Landmark Society’s web site has a photo collection, and this undated early photo of South Avenue features the Bradford/Shea’s Theatre. The writing is very difficult to make out, but it appears to me that the small building just this side of the Bradford has a sign that could read “Gem Novelties.” I wonder if that might have been a short-lived nickelodeon?
The newsletter article doesn’t mention the People’s Opera House, but does list a house on Chambers Street (no number) called the Theater Comique, which ran from 1877 until burning in 1880. The only other mention of Chambers Street is the Wagner Opera House, which it lists at Main and Chambers from 1878 to 1903. In any case, it’s clear that the newsletter list is, unfortunately, not entirely reliable.
The reference to an explosion is curious. There was some renumbering of addresses, but it seems to have taken place between 1899 and 1905. The ORIGINAL 29, which became 31, does appear on the 1905 map as ‘Ruins of Fire’. It was a clothing store in 1899. There were a lot of wooden buildings on that block early on. 29/31 appears on the 1886 map as the Brunswick Hotel, and 27/29 as a shoe store.
So much information that contradicts other information! It may be impossible to untangle it.
The dates for the ‘Gem’ are definitely wrong. There was an opera house at 15 Chambers St (originally 3 Chambers). It appears on the 1886 map as the Peoples Opera House. (There was also an Opera House Hotel across the street.) The building was a 3 story wooden structure that spanned the entire width of the narrow block. It was directly behind the Wagner Opera House, much of which is still there. However, by 1890 it had become a livery run by Fair & Co., and then by 1899 by F. Weaver, and by 1905 by George Baker. It was still there in 1911, but was demolished sometime before 1925 when the large church at the end of the block was built.
The Theatorium, 29 Main St., is still listed at Bradford in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. However, a newsletter from the Bradford Landmark Society (PDF here) has a list of Bradford’s early theaters and also says the Theatorium closed in 1910, and had opened in 1906.
To add a bit more confusion, This Wikipedia article about Jay and Jules Allen, founders of Canada’s famous Allen Theatres chain, says that they were the original owners of the Theatorium, having opened it on November 10, 1906. However, Wiki’s article says that the Theatorium was destroyed by an explosion in September, 1908, “…resulting in its replacement by the Gem.”
The local newsletter lists the Gem as a house on Chambers Street which operated from 1880 until 1912, when it was converted to a horse stable. The Allens sold their local holdings in 1909, according to Wikipedia. It does not help that the Allens' first Canadian Theater was also called the Theatorium, and was in Brantford, Ontario. I’ve also found a reference to the Bradford Theatorium being in operation again in 1909, at 29 Main street, under the ownership of “Travis, Walker and Bush.”
Obviously not everything said about the Theatorium from all these sources can be correct, but I’ve not yet been able to establish which claims are accurate. There might be sources I haven’t found yet.
If this address is correct, this was gone by 1910. The 1905 map shows a wooden storefront here with a 5 and dime in it. By 1910, this address was being used by one of the retail spaces in the Grand theater building.