Columbia Theatre
150 Main Street,
Brookville,
PA
15825
150 Main Street,
Brookville,
PA
15825
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Was in Brookville, PA recently and can confirm the theatre is closed which is a shame. The citizens of Brookville with 4000 residents need to bring their theatre back.
This theatre for many years was a teen center though it is now being returned to the town as the theatre it once was. Just this past weekend local theatre did a stage production of Steel Magnolia.
I found newspaper advertising through December 0f 1957. It was running 4 nights a week (Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon)
The Columbia Theatre launched December 24, 1919. It closed on June 19, 1954 after a 50% year-over-year decrease in attendance due to television. It doesn’t appear to have reopened.
Joe: Thank you for the book link!
A book called “Brookville” by Carole A. Briggs has a photo of the Columbia, and provides the information that the 1904 structure was a hotel. The auditorium was added to the back of the building some years later. The alterations were designed by Pittsburgh architect Harry S. Bair.
It’s not really a theatre as we know it…no seats other than folding chairs as it is a teen center for the youth of the community. The stage area is used for Christian concerts, etc. As I recall the ceiling chandeliers are original.
Lost: This is my husband’s hometown in PA.
lostmemory: Well, I’ve been to Brookville and took a tour of the Columbia. A local church does, in fact, own the building. The front half which includes the former lobby is used as a teen center and the back half which is the auditorium is used for Christian music concerts as there is a stage and former orchestra pit that has been covered over to provide more stage depth. The ceiling as been painted to the original design and many of the light fixtures are original! The original seats have been taken out, but 3 of them do exist as we found them in the back of the theatre not being used for anything! The street facade as been enclosed with glass,
but the original plaster molding design still remains in the area where the ticket kios would have stood which has been removed over the years when that area was open leading from the front doors into
the lobby with curved ceiling. The horizontal Columbia marquee is
gone, but the exterior overhead metal awning is still intact though is peeling and in need of paint.
lostmemory: I think a church owns the Columbia Theatre, but will find out more information upon a visit to my husband’s hometown and hopefully a tour of the theatre.
Will do…for sure! It’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN and this time I will be entering the theatre, too! ;–)
Thanks again. We plan to make a trip to the town in June for their annual Laurel Festival where my husband and I met! At this time we will check out the theatre. In fact, several summers ago we did visit the town and during a walk down main street my husband stopped at the theatre and got to see inside (beyond the lobby area)though I didn’t see it as I was, unfortunately, elsewhere.
I wonder what the style was if it, in fact, was a former house or hotel? It is located in the middle of the block and not on a corner.
My husband believes that as you walked to your seat the ceiling got lower thus the “incline” that you walk up to get to the seats.
Thanks so very much Lost Memory….I’d say your resource memory is quite good though. I will relay all of this to my ‘other half’! Glad to read that the theatre has been designated ‘a historical building’! The town pop. is small about 3,500 and could use a main streethometown theatre, again.
And if you have any more info on the builder, John H. Carr please advise as he may have been involved with other PA area theatres. My husband thanks you! ;–)
Thanks for the additional information. My husband is from Brookville and remembers going to that theatre. Do you have a source book that you refer to or are you from the general area?