American Theatre
122 W. Carolina Avenue,
Crewe,
VA
23930
122 W. Carolina Avenue,
Crewe,
VA
23930
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The 180-seat Palace is still the only theater listed at Crewe in the 1928 FDY, and the 1929 edition lists only a 180-seat American Theatre, which I think we can safely assume was the Palace renamed. The 1929 edition features the same listing, but multiple sources indicate that in April, 1929 the 398-seat Crewe Theatre opened, with Vitaphone pictures. It is first listed in 1930, along with a 400-seat house called the Oliver.
With two big new theaters competing, it’s unlikely the Palace/American survived for long, although the 1930 FDY also lists a theater called the Playhouse, with no seating capacity given. None of the three were listed as closed, so perhaps the American managed to hang on with a new name for at least part of one more year. It was gone from the listings in 1931. Odd that it kept its theater doors into the age of dish antennae. Perhaps a church took the space over?
Note that one map calls it ‘Electric Theatre’, but it’s unclear whether that’s a name or designation.
Must have been demolished sometime between 2011 and 2021. I hadn’t recalled correctly when I photographed this.