Liberty Theatre
120 1st Avenue East,
Kalispell,
MT
59901
120 1st Avenue East,
Kalispell,
MT
59901
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Anderson Theater Company, Signature Theatres
Architects: Marion B. Riffo
Functions: Church
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Oct 21, 2009 — Liberty Theater acquired for church expansion
The Liberty Theatre was opened January 24, 1921 with Alma Rubens in “Humoresque” & Harold Lloyd in “Captain Kid’s Kids”. It was equipped with an organ which was opened by organist Albert Plomteaux who was based in Seattle. The location of the Liberty Theatre was given as N. Main Street.
Last operated by the Signature Theatres chain who closed it in 2007. The Liberty Theatre was purchased by the Fresh Life Church (the which also owns the Strand Theatre), and is now being used as a ‘siamese sancutury’ - audio and hi-def video is fed from the Strand Theatre to the Liberty Theatre (except for when the pastor choses to preach from the Liberty Theatre, in which case it will happen in reverse).
Contributed by
Dave Bonan, Mark Uhde
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
The Liberty is still a Signature Theatre, not part of the sale to Regal. It will close when Signature opens its new 14 screen complex at Hutton Ranch. There is a strong possibility that the Liberty will be used for live theater in the future.
The Liberty will go dark after shows on August 1.
Here is a September 2005 article regarding the owner of the Liberty Theater. The Liberty no longer appears on the Signature website.
http://tinyurl.com/2kgoyk
According to this article, it is becoming a church (with an espresso bar!) View link
Interesting. I guess the church could still rent it out to others for live events, but not sure how that would work with their tax exempt/non for profit status.
Doing so might quell some of the negativity posted in the comments on the Flathead Beacon site. If resistant community members felt it was open to other cultural events.
Taking it off the tax rolls seems the biggest complaint.
Nice photos.
A PDF of a walking tour of Kalispell from the Montana Historical Society has information about the Liberty Theatre. The Liberty was designed by local architect Marion Riffo, and opened on January 24, 1921. The first movie shown was “Humoresque.” The house had an organ, but the text doesn’t say what kind.
The original owner of the Liberty was Marius Anderson. Anderson Theatres eventually operated other houses in Kalispell as well: the Strand Theatre, the Gateway Cinemas, and the Midway Drive-In. The family-owned company was sold in 2000.
Opening article
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
Grand opening ad posted.