Temple Theatre

Stanley Spoehr had operated Henderson’s first movie theatre, the Nickelodeon Theatre in 1906 at 118-120 North Main Street. To blunt the competition from new movie providers, Spoehr’s Nickelodeon Company opened two more movie houses in 1912 with the Lyric Theatre here at 126 North Main Street and the Princess Theatre (later Kimmel Theatre) at 212 Second Street(It has its own page on Cinema Treasures).

The Lyric Theatre opened October 14, 1912 replacing a restaurant in that location. Opening film was “The Stranger in the Taxicab” with Gertrude McCoy and Willis Secord and William Duncan in “An Equine Hero”. The Mission-themed theatre wasn’t spectacular, but pricing was good with all seats a nickel.

But the wheels began to fall off for Spoehr’s Nickelodeon Company. Spoehr closed the Lyric Theatre in 1914 which was reopened as the No Name Theatre by C.R. Dumbauld and W.W. Schaefer complete with a naming contest offering $5 in gold for the winning name in 1914. That name was the Temple Theater and Hallie Rodman took home the gold and two passes per month to attend the Temple Theatre. She would get only as high as four passes as the building was gutted by a fire. That was followed by lawsuits about what was destroyed.

Bottom line, the theatre did not reach it desired patronage and the building was sold to S.S. Kresge' Corp. for a dime store. The theatre was removed and replaced by an Art Deco style storefront that is still recognizable 2025. The neighboring buildings to the left of the former Lyric Theatre turned Art Deco STYLE retail building also remain in place in the 2020’s giving one a glimpse of what the Lyric Theatre would have looked like from its exterior.

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