Peep-In Theater

About 20% of Owensboro’s population was African American. A small commercial district was built at Ninth Street and Breckenridge Street. It would include the first hard-top theater for African American patrons. Established by Richard Jackson, the Peep-In Theater launched on January 10, 1916. Opening titles were William Garwood in “Billy’s Love Making” and Adele Lane in “The Valley of Regeneration”.

Jackson would also establish a pool hall in the same facility that was raided on gambling charges. The Peep-In Theater was one of two silent era movie destinations for local African American clientele. The other was Joseph McShane’s Airdome on Fifth Street that accommodated over 600 patrons launching in the summer of 1923. Such outdoor venues were popular since air conditioning was not available in most pre-War theaters.

The business district around Ninth Street and Breckenridge Street has since been demolished, perhaps in 1969 according to local reports. It’s not certain when the Peep-In Theater peeped out because the African American theaters were generally not covered by the primary, local newspaper.

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