The AMPD listing for the Chautauqua refers to an annual event held at a park. I suppose movies might have been shown, but it wasn’t a theater. Unfortunately, the Sanborn choices are 1905, which is far too early for theaters (although the opera house is shown), and 1921, by which time only one building is listed as a theater. If the Arbelia is listed in 1914-15, then the Duchess and Gem cannot be the name of the theater that replaced it. Star is a definite possibility, the style of the buildings suggests they were built right around World War I. If Courter owned the Star, it makes sense that he later renamed it for himself. If he had a ready-made theater, it makes no sense to convert a bus barn. 435 seats seems really low for such a cavernous building, but not for a narrow one-story theater with a tiny balcony.
It seems that the 211 N Main is an error, and that the Courter was the S Main structure. That corner was home to the Arbelia Opera House, which burned around 1910, and was then replaced by the bank and theater. That theater would have been in operation for at least 10 years before the supposed conversion of the old bus barn.
There is a potential ID issue here. The 1921 Sanborn map identifies the current home of the Gallatin Theater League as ‘moving pictures’. It’s quite obvious that this building was purpose built as a theater. I can’t find a street address, but it’s likely either 103 or 105 S Main. It’s the second building from the corner. Chuck often has errors in his listings, and it’s entirely possible that 211 N Main was never a theater. It seems at least likely that by the ‘60s, the purpose-built theater was the Courter. I have pictures of both buildings, and am happy to add them, but only if we’re sure both were theaters.
Building appeared between the 1898 and 1905 Sanborn maps. On the latter, it is labeled ‘J.W. McClaskey Bus & Transfer’ [moving]. It’s vacant on the 1921 map. By the 2013 streetview, it is rather grim-looking housing.
Map marker is in the wrong place. 14 is in the middle of the block across from the courthouse. It’s a large red brick single story building with two storefronts. The building is on the 1909 Sanborn, but not the 1900 (there was probably a fire). The section that would have been 14 is a bar. There is another theater on the 1916 Sanborn map. It’s the second building south of 3rd on Main, now a garage. On that map, the Gem is listed as dry goods and shoes.
Building is vacant. It’s been poorly treated over the years. Ground floor is a hideous ‘70s-'80s pebble dash, and the massive cornice is just a blank expanse of plaster.
As was pointed out years ago, this needs to be changed to closed. By 2011, the ugly wood paneling on the ground floor had been removed, and the ‘Old’ dropped from the name. The 2015 streetview shows this as a bakery/coffee shop.
This is NOT demolished. Ground floor has a really ugly storefront in it, and the marquee has been replaced by a nasty shingle awning, but the building is still there.
Another note about this theater. Not only was the balcony segregated, which was typical in the Jim Crow south, but there was a divider running down the middle to keep Native Americans further segregated.
I uploaded a picture which shows a little bit of the theater. It was very late in the day when I came through, and I didn’t take any of the whole block, or the theater front. It’s better than nothing, but only just.
Whoever did the NRHP listing completely screwed this up. The building is on Water St. Theater was in 100, which is the right hand storefront of the block. Currently the entire building is a hardware store. It was built in three stages (you can see subtle differences in the brick) between 1898 and 1910. 100, home of the theater, was built first.
Very poor entry with no information. The NRHP listing for downtown Dillon says this was built in 1919, and remodeled in 1935 by Lafaye & Lafaye for H.H. Anderson. It went to the county in 1989 as a live performance venue. It is not showing movies. The Facebook page is going on 4 years out of date, but I think it may still be open.
I think it was renamed Rainbow very late in life. The picture I linked to is likely from the early ‘70s, and the theater still has a marquee which says 'Marion’ on it.
Façade has been restored recently. The cheap plastic marquee and ugly letters are gone, the left porthole was reopened, but for some reason they’ve mounted two industrial-looking floodlights on the front.
The AMPD listing for the Chautauqua refers to an annual event held at a park. I suppose movies might have been shown, but it wasn’t a theater. Unfortunately, the Sanborn choices are 1905, which is far too early for theaters (although the opera house is shown), and 1921, by which time only one building is listed as a theater. If the Arbelia is listed in 1914-15, then the Duchess and Gem cannot be the name of the theater that replaced it. Star is a definite possibility, the style of the buildings suggests they were built right around World War I. If Courter owned the Star, it makes sense that he later renamed it for himself. If he had a ready-made theater, it makes no sense to convert a bus barn. 435 seats seems really low for such a cavernous building, but not for a narrow one-story theater with a tiny balcony.
It seems that the 211 N Main is an error, and that the Courter was the S Main structure. That corner was home to the Arbelia Opera House, which burned around 1910, and was then replaced by the bank and theater. That theater would have been in operation for at least 10 years before the supposed conversion of the old bus barn.
There is a potential ID issue here. The 1921 Sanborn map identifies the current home of the Gallatin Theater League as ‘moving pictures’. It’s quite obvious that this building was purpose built as a theater. I can’t find a street address, but it’s likely either 103 or 105 S Main. It’s the second building from the corner. Chuck often has errors in his listings, and it’s entirely possible that 211 N Main was never a theater. It seems at least likely that by the ‘60s, the purpose-built theater was the Courter. I have pictures of both buildings, and am happy to add them, but only if we’re sure both were theaters.
Building appeared between the 1898 and 1905 Sanborn maps. On the latter, it is labeled ‘J.W. McClaskey Bus & Transfer’ [moving]. It’s vacant on the 1921 map. By the 2013 streetview, it is rather grim-looking housing.
Map marker is in the wrong place. 14 is in the middle of the block across from the courthouse. It’s a large red brick single story building with two storefronts. The building is on the 1909 Sanborn, but not the 1900 (there was probably a fire). The section that would have been 14 is a bar. There is another theater on the 1916 Sanborn map. It’s the second building south of 3rd on Main, now a garage. On that map, the Gem is listed as dry goods and shoes.
Went ahead and added the picture. Hopefully someone will confirm.
Added a picture from 2012. 2018 streetview shows this still basically derelict.
Building is vacant. It’s been poorly treated over the years. Ground floor is a hideous ‘70s-'80s pebble dash, and the massive cornice is just a blank expanse of plaster.
Map marker is wrong. This is several miles north.
Why are we using a banner taken from the website instead of one of the much better pictures of the building?
This has been demolished. It’s now a parking lot. The library next door is 3309 E Main (NY 343). Could we please have some info added to the listing?
As was pointed out years ago, this needs to be changed to closed. By 2011, the ugly wood paneling on the ground floor had been removed, and the ‘Old’ dropped from the name. The 2015 streetview shows this as a bakery/coffee shop.
Map marker is wrong, because this map thinks there are two N Main Streets. Marker needs to be on the actual Main, likely the parking lot for the bank.
S. Main address is probably wrong. The NRHP listing for downtown has no mention of ‘Rex’ or ‘Roxy’.
This is NOT demolished. Ground floor has a really ugly storefront in it, and the marquee has been replaced by a nasty shingle awning, but the building is still there.
Another note about this theater. Not only was the balcony segregated, which was typical in the Jim Crow south, but there was a divider running down the middle to keep Native Americans further segregated.
I uploaded a picture which shows a little bit of the theater. It was very late in the day when I came through, and I didn’t take any of the whole block, or the theater front. It’s better than nothing, but only just.
Whoever did the NRHP listing completely screwed this up. The building is on Water St. Theater was in 100, which is the right hand storefront of the block. Currently the entire building is a hardware store. It was built in three stages (you can see subtle differences in the brick) between 1898 and 1910. 100, home of the theater, was built first.
Very poor entry with no information. The NRHP listing for downtown Dillon says this was built in 1919, and remodeled in 1935 by Lafaye & Lafaye for H.H. Anderson. It went to the county in 1989 as a live performance venue. It is not showing movies. The Facebook page is going on 4 years out of date, but I think it may still be open.
Marquee obviously wasn’t retained, it’s a reproduction. Was the building next door also a theater?
I think it was renamed Rainbow very late in life. The picture I linked to is likely from the early ‘70s, and the theater still has a marquee which says 'Marion’ on it.
According to the NRHP listing for downtown, it was built in 1924. Can we get more information for the listing?
Theater can be seen in this photo: http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/marion/S10817734005/pages/S1081773400522.htm
Map marker is wrong, and the address is wrong. It was at 313 N Main. Demolished years ago for a really ugly bank.
Façade has been restored recently. The cheap plastic marquee and ugly letters are gone, the left porthole was reopened, but for some reason they’ve mounted two industrial-looking floodlights on the front.