Empress Theatre

After successfully operating the Lyric Theatre on South Main Street for some time, Alexander A. Moulder and his father built a larger theatre across the street. This became the Empress Theatre, which through most of its decade plus of operation was one of three theatres on the block. With its spacious stage facilities, the Empress Theatre was able to present first class vaudeville acts, including some from the Orpheum circuit. The Lyric Theatre was destroyed by fire in June, 1915, a short time after the Moulders had sold it, but in 1917 it was replaced by the St. Denis Theatre (later to be renamed the Iris Theatre,) a larger theatre.

With the Yale Theatre a few doors up the block from the Lyric Theatre (and then the St. Denis Theatre,) this block of Main Street was Sapulpa’s lively theatre row for more than a decade. In 1924, the Victorian Theatre, the town’s largest so far, opened on Water Street, and operated in its splendid isolation until closing in 1930. In 1931, the Moulders got control of the Victorian Theatre and, after renovations, reopened it as the Criterion Theatre. The Empress Theatre was then closed and its building converted for retail use, leaving the Yale Theatre and Iris Theatre as a diminished theater district.

Today, none of the historic Main Street theatre buildings remain standing.

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