State Theatre

215 Abbott Road,
East Lansing, MI 48823

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Showing 11 comments

Hugh
Hugh on August 26, 2021 at 6:26 pm

One time when I visited the campus circa 1970s or 80s, it was a church.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on July 9, 2020 at 6:07 pm

Demolished Late August- early September 1985. Multiple images and news article added.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 10, 2018 at 10:21 pm

This web page has a history of the State Theatre. Construction began in late 1926 and was completed in 1927. The theater and the adjoining Abbott Building were designed by Edwyn Alfred Bowd and Orlie J. Munson of the Lansing architectural firm the Bowd-Munson Company. The Abbott Building survived the theater by more than three decades, finally being demolished in October, 2017, after having been vacant for about ten years.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on March 8, 2018 at 11:35 pm

February 1957 photo added courtesy of John Stone. Matching advertisement image added credit The State Journal.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 5, 2016 at 5:50 pm

November 2nd, 1927 grand opening ad in the photo section. It opened on the next date.

William
William on May 6, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Thanks for the info.

William
William on May 6, 2009 at 7:49 pm

Lost your new links from American Classic Images are broken.

Hugh
Hugh on September 7, 2007 at 8:19 pm

When I was an MSU student in the 1950s, the State would show wide-screen movies by squishing down the top and keeping the sides the same. We would term it “drawf-a-scope.”

Patsy
Patsy on July 20, 2007 at 2:26 pm

The newspaper article with b/w photo is so sad especially the words of Jim Fritzgerald, bank president…..“few have protested the loss of the old building”. If I were a resident of Lansing and Mr. Fritzgerald is still alive, I’d want to go meet with him and ‘chat’ about the theatre his bank owned and chose to demolish!

Patsy
Patsy on July 20, 2007 at 2:17 pm

Can’t believe this one in the Lansing area is gone, too!

glenjay
glenjay on September 2, 2006 at 2:49 pm

Alas, that the State Theater came to that. When student film culture got going in the 60s, the State was where it was at. I saw “The Graduate” there.