Rigney Theatre

102 S. Smith Street,
Albany, MO 64402

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SethG
SethG on March 8, 2019 at 10:12 am

1916 Sanborn shows a capacity of 666, and notes that it offers ‘moving pictures & vaudeville’. The stone that bears the name also has a small note ‘Reed & Hutch’ with ‘W.H.H.’ below that. I assume Reed & Hutch were the builders or perhaps owners, and “W.H.H.‘ is either some acronym I can’t decipher, or the initials of the stonemason.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on February 11, 2018 at 8:13 am

Judge Thomas N. Rigney of Albany selected architect Carl Boller of Kansas City to build a 900-seat theatre capable of staging live events and motion pictures. It launched December 30, 1914 with a live stage play but would also have motion pictures within months of its launch.

In 1931, the orchestra pit was torn out with the full conversion to full time talking pictures. On December 6, 1956, the Rigney converted to widescreen equipment to show CinemaScope titles. In 1966, the venue was sold and became the Wilcox Theatre. It would later get its original name back before closing.

Chris1982
Chris1982 on August 1, 2014 at 12:31 pm

The Rigney Theatre closed in June of 2013 for reapirs and has never reopened.