Wheelwright Theater

Joe Vogel on October 12, 2025 at 2:45 am

This web page about the Drift Theatre in Drift, Kentucky, has one photo (the second one down) showing the Wheelwright Theatre. The house had a large, free-standing kiosk-like box office standing several feet away from the building entrance. The theater’s marquee had a neon W on it, but no attraction board. The crowd outside the theater in this ca.1946 photo includes several people of obvious African ancestry, so perhaps Wheelwright was an exception to the strict segregation that prevailed in most of Kentucky during this period.

The NRHP nomination form for the Wheelwright Commercial District (PDF here) says that most of the buildings in the district had been built between 1916 and 1920, but “[d]uring 1940 and 1941, an intensive modernization program was undertaken: the theater was brick-veneered and the ticket booth-pay window was built…” A new clubhouse was built at the same time, designed by architect Albert Franklin Tucker, who probably handled the entire renovation project as well.

The Wheelwright Theatre is listed in the 1926 FDY. A map in the NRHP form shows the theater on Main Street across from the Post Office. The address 1590 KY-306, Wheelwright brings up a Google street view of the site.