Riverbank Theatre

A small motion picture theater can be found on Sanborn Maps 1914 on 3rd Street in Riverbank.

The Modesto Bee reported Jennie May Wright, age 44, proprietor of the Dreamland Theatre, was found deceased April 23,1919, in the auditorium of her theater. With her cat watching over her, she had maintained an apartment in the theater. The autopsy said the death was due to heart failure. It was reported she left an estate of $3,000 and a relative wasn’t found until a month later when a sister was located in Arkansas through a letter.

Motion Picture News reported on September 27, 1919, that Shields and Van Buren of the Star Theatre, Oakdale had taken over the Dreamland Theatre.

On October 25, 1920, it was reported the former Dreamland Theatre on 3rd Street, formerly operated by J.W. Wright, has been refitted and will be reopened. After 1924 the Dreamland name wasn’t used and the Modesto Bee referred to the theater as the Riverbank Theatre.

The Riverbank Theatre was in Film Daily Year Book 1926 and 1927 with 300 seats and then disappeared.

Today the site is the parking lot for the post office.

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