Theater
124 S. Main Street,
Blackstone,
VA
23824
124 S. Main Street,
Blackstone,
VA
23824
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This theater appears on the 1913 Sanborn, located in a two story brick building constructed sometime after 1908, when a small wooden outbuilding was located here.
It’s possible this was built as a theater, but the building was quite small, and by 1919 the post office was located here. It may be that this was the first location of the Lyric, in which case it had moved by 1914-15, when the AMPD puts it a block north.
This building still exists, behind a truly repulsive 1970’s facade inflicted by the bank on the corner.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Blackstone had a house called the Bijou theatre in 1913, advertised as part of the American Motion Picture League in the December 20 issue of Moving Picture World.
The Blackstone Courier of March 31, 1911 featured an advertisement in which Mr. O. M. Johnson offered the town’s Rex Theatre for sale at an auction to be held at the theater on April 4. The fixtures included 110 opera chairs and 65 folding chairs, giving a seating capacity of 175, which looks about right for this small building at 124 S. Main Street. The house had a stage 16x18 feet, and “elevated floors.” The lease on the building had eight months to run.
If 124 S. Main was the Rex in 1911, that would of course not preclude it from having been the Bijou in 1913, or the Lyric at some other time. And if this was the only unidentified theater on the 1913 Sanborn map, that makes even more likely to have been the location of the Bijou of that year.
If the Rex became the Bijou, it had another name in between. The May 19, 1911 Courier announced that the former Rex would reopen as the Amuzu Theatre on Tuesday, May 23, at 8:00 PM.
A September 3, 1909 Courier item says that “[t]he crowds continue to increase at the moving picture show each night.” The show was apparently not held at the Opera House, as another item in the same issue says “[t]he Opera House opens for this season on to-morrow with the drama ‘The Final Settlement.’” The as-yet-nameless picture show could have been this house at 124 S. Main Street.