This building dates to well before 1884. The 1902 map shows a grocery in this space. The 1915 Sanborn calls this the Bijou Theatre, and says the capacity is 271.
The 1915 map shows the address as 51, although this had obviously changed by the ‘40s at the latest. Apartments were located on the second and third floors above the auditorium.
The Plaza was built as the Hampton Hotel, sometime between 1895 and 1902. The 1970s survey form says 1896, but their dates are sometimes off. The building’s architect was Curtis G. Page. There was a substantial addition to the rear of the building during conversion to a theater (the section without a cornice), which was occupied by the stage.
Address is wrong, sort of. The theater was on the second floor on the east side. The address for the upstairs has been 30 since sometime between 1910 and 1915, but it was originally 24, which is now a boutique on the west corner.
The building is the Dewey Block, which was built sometime between 1895 and 1902, as downtown expanded into what had been a residential area. The theater space is shown as a ‘Hall’ on the 1902 map. The theater itself was open by 1910.
A theater at 3rd and Franklin could have been on any corner except the NW. The entire block north of the old courthouse was replaced by a hulking monstrosity after the 1999 tornado. The building on the SE corner looks old, but does not look like a theater at all. It’s not what was there on the 1913 map. NE corner looks about the right age, and definitely is not what was there in 1913. It doesn’t really look like a theater, especially not a 1,000 seater. NW corner has been there since the 1890s.
I wonder if this isn’t one of the theaters I just added. There were theaters at 106 and 108 Franklin. The other two I added were open by 1908, closed by 1913, and can’t be this one.
I’m not sure about the address. 66 Franklin on the 1908 map is the Franklin House hotel, which was at the SW corner of the Public Square. By 1913 however, the hotel had become 126 W Franklin. East/West were abandoned sometime later, since the big ugly bank on top of where the hotel was is 50 Franklin.
That area of town, despite being the location of city hall, appears really marginal on old maps. Lots of vacant buildings, tenements, piles of junk large enough to be noted on the map, factories, a ‘Holiness Mission’, etc. Like Clarksville’s answer to the Bowery.
Assuming Jack was estimating east from the current bank at 50, the 1913 map shows junk storage, a ragpicker, a tenement, a newspaper (The Leaf Chronicle, possibly a tobacco industry newsletter), the Hurst-Baillin wholesale grocery warehouse, and a rail spur to the warehouse. Does not look like a promising location for a theater. The large set of buildings on the corner, which are still there, was the Elder-Conroy Hardware Co., and has always had an address in the 90s.
We should probably have separate listings for the Lillian, and the second Lillian/Roxy. Neither of those two theaters have any relation to the current structure.
Just to be clear, there were theaters in both locations before the construction of the Capitol, but if the theater at 416 Main was the Columbia, that did not become the Capitol. The theater at 416 was in an old storefront, which was demolished to be replaced by the Capitol. I suppose it’s possible that the theater on Park Row was the Crescent, and the operator bought the Columbia, tore two buildings down, and built the Capitol.
The Capitol was not built until sometime after 1914. The two older buildings are still on that map, and the eastern one contains a movie theater. I don’t think the Capitol was constructed until 1921, and I don’t think it was ever the Columbia. I also don’t think the Columbia was the name of the theater appearing on the 1914 map, since that was in a pre-1886 storefront, not any newly constructed building.
There are two possibilities here given the vague and contradictory information. There was a theater at 411 Park Row on the 1909 map. That building, which is still there today, was built before 1886, and had been a saloon in 1901. It’s a dry goods store on the 1914 map.
The other possibility is that this was the theater at 416 E Main, which appears in an old storefront, again a pre-1886 two-story brick structure. This is shown on the 1914 map. It had been a grocery in 1909, and by 1921 had been demolished and replaced by the Capitol.
Given the ‘Crescent’ link, and the fact that the original Capitol is shown on the 1925 map to have an office on the west side, I think the most likely address for the Crescent was 416 E Main.
The information about the Columbia theater is wrong. There was never an ‘opera house’ on this block. No movie theaters appear until the 1914 map, when there are two. There were two two-story brick commercial buildings on this lot, both built before 1886.
Church is today Glenn L English St. Should have a North or South component to the address, but would have been on the west side. The 102 address is dubious, since there was almost nothing facing Church. The 1926 map shows the lowest even south address as a rooming house at 112 (behind the bakery building on E Main, which is still there), and the lowest to the north was 108, used by the little annex behind the opera house.
They often say demolished when there’s no auditorium. It’s sort of misleading, since there’s still a building to look at (like the nice old theater on Cherokee, which they list as ‘demolished’)
The address cannot be right. That’s a small street at the top of a hill. Adirondack Natural Stone is halfway down to Ft. Ann on US 4. The entry is pretty garbled, and needs editing.
Correct address is 5434 S Tacoma Way. Union ends at 47th. It used to merge with Broadway (now called Tacoma), and keeps the Union name on the 1912 map. The building is still there, rather shabby, and the theater space is a Vietnamese restaurant.
Address would now be 1518 MLK Jr. Way. The volume containing that area is missing from the LOC site for 1912, but the 1950 update shows a large concrete building of 2 stories, split into two storefronts. 1518, the northern half, is in use as a church. The location is where the police station is today.
This building dates to well before 1884. The 1902 map shows a grocery in this space. The 1915 Sanborn calls this the Bijou Theatre, and says the capacity is 271.
The 1915 map shows the address as 51, although this had obviously changed by the ‘40s at the latest. Apartments were located on the second and third floors above the auditorium.
The Plaza was built as the Hampton Hotel, sometime between 1895 and 1902. The 1970s survey form says 1896, but their dates are sometimes off. The building’s architect was Curtis G. Page. There was a substantial addition to the rear of the building during conversion to a theater (the section without a cornice), which was occupied by the stage.
I added a map view, since the photo shows only a tiny corner of the building, and none of what can be seen was occupied by the theater.
Address is wrong, sort of. The theater was on the second floor on the east side. The address for the upstairs has been 30 since sometime between 1910 and 1915, but it was originally 24, which is now a boutique on the west corner.
The building is the Dewey Block, which was built sometime between 1895 and 1902, as downtown expanded into what had been a residential area. The theater space is shown as a ‘Hall’ on the 1902 map. The theater itself was open by 1910.
Given how raw the empty hole still looks, this may have been lost in the 1999 tornado.
A theater at 3rd and Franklin could have been on any corner except the NW. The entire block north of the old courthouse was replaced by a hulking monstrosity after the 1999 tornado. The building on the SE corner looks old, but does not look like a theater at all. It’s not what was there on the 1913 map. NE corner looks about the right age, and definitely is not what was there in 1913. It doesn’t really look like a theater, especially not a 1,000 seater. NW corner has been there since the 1890s.
I wonder if this isn’t one of the theaters I just added. There were theaters at 106 and 108 Franklin. The other two I added were open by 1908, closed by 1913, and can’t be this one.
I’m not sure about the address. 66 Franklin on the 1908 map is the Franklin House hotel, which was at the SW corner of the Public Square. By 1913 however, the hotel had become 126 W Franklin. East/West were abandoned sometime later, since the big ugly bank on top of where the hotel was is 50 Franklin.
That area of town, despite being the location of city hall, appears really marginal on old maps. Lots of vacant buildings, tenements, piles of junk large enough to be noted on the map, factories, a ‘Holiness Mission’, etc. Like Clarksville’s answer to the Bowery.
Assuming Jack was estimating east from the current bank at 50, the 1913 map shows junk storage, a ragpicker, a tenement, a newspaper (The Leaf Chronicle, possibly a tobacco industry newsletter), the Hurst-Baillin wholesale grocery warehouse, and a rail spur to the warehouse. Does not look like a promising location for a theater. The large set of buildings on the corner, which are still there, was the Elder-Conroy Hardware Co., and has always had an address in the 90s.
We should probably have separate listings for the Lillian, and the second Lillian/Roxy. Neither of those two theaters have any relation to the current structure.
Just to be clear, there were theaters in both locations before the construction of the Capitol, but if the theater at 416 Main was the Columbia, that did not become the Capitol. The theater at 416 was in an old storefront, which was demolished to be replaced by the Capitol. I suppose it’s possible that the theater on Park Row was the Crescent, and the operator bought the Columbia, tore two buildings down, and built the Capitol.
The Capitol was not built until sometime after 1914. The two older buildings are still on that map, and the eastern one contains a movie theater. I don’t think the Capitol was constructed until 1921, and I don’t think it was ever the Columbia. I also don’t think the Columbia was the name of the theater appearing on the 1914 map, since that was in a pre-1886 storefront, not any newly constructed building.
While the theater was operating, the address for this building was 448-450.
While this was operating, Park Row may still have been known by the old name of Frozen Row.
The church moved in in 1985. Poor thing is looking pretty seedy today. I’ve added a 1925 view of the original floor plan.
There are two possibilities here given the vague and contradictory information. There was a theater at 411 Park Row on the 1909 map. That building, which is still there today, was built before 1886, and had been a saloon in 1901. It’s a dry goods store on the 1914 map.
The other possibility is that this was the theater at 416 E Main, which appears in an old storefront, again a pre-1886 two-story brick structure. This is shown on the 1914 map. It had been a grocery in 1909, and by 1921 had been demolished and replaced by the Capitol.
Given the ‘Crescent’ link, and the fact that the original Capitol is shown on the 1925 map to have an office on the west side, I think the most likely address for the Crescent was 416 E Main.
The 1925 map shows this theater as vacant, so there must have been a pause in operations.
The information about the Columbia theater is wrong. There was never an ‘opera house’ on this block. No movie theaters appear until the 1914 map, when there are two. There were two two-story brick commercial buildings on this lot, both built before 1886.
Church is today Glenn L English St. Should have a North or South component to the address, but would have been on the west side. The 102 address is dubious, since there was almost nothing facing Church. The 1926 map shows the lowest even south address as a rooming house at 112 (behind the bakery building on E Main, which is still there), and the lowest to the north was 108, used by the little annex behind the opera house.
This entry is a real mess. It has information on two completely different theaters at different addresses.
They often say demolished when there’s no auditorium. It’s sort of misleading, since there’s still a building to look at (like the nice old theater on Cherokee, which they list as ‘demolished’)
Website is dead, and the lobby has been gutted. Looks like work is being done.
The address cannot be right. That’s a small street at the top of a hill. Adirondack Natural Stone is halfway down to Ft. Ann on US 4. The entry is pretty garbled, and needs editing.
Correct address is 5434 S Tacoma Way. Union ends at 47th. It used to merge with Broadway (now called Tacoma), and keeps the Union name on the 1912 map. The building is still there, rather shabby, and the theater space is a Vietnamese restaurant.
Address would now be 1518 MLK Jr. Way. The volume containing that area is missing from the LOC site for 1912, but the 1950 update shows a large concrete building of 2 stories, split into two storefronts. 1518, the northern half, is in use as a church. The location is where the police station is today.