Buffalo Theater

235 S. Main Street,
Buffalo, WY 83834

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Zephyrscribe
Zephyrscribe on June 7, 2026 at 5:29 pm

Buffalo’s original motion picture house was the Theatorium, which opened in 1909 at 1 North Main Street. It operated during the nickelodeon era when movies remained short attractions with screenings squeezed into standard retail spaces. The Theatorium moved next door before closing as a movie exhibitor in the late 1910s.

Supplanting it was the city’s first modern cinema, Bison Theatre, which opened in 1917 at 7 North Main and lasted until March 8, 1984. Buffalo then went without a local movie house until 1993 when Scully Theater opened at 235 South Main Street.

The business operated for several years before shuttering, after which community residents formed a management group that rebranded and reopened the location as The Buffalo Theater in February 2003. It closed on March 8, 2020 amid the Covid-19 outbreak. π΅π‘’π‘“π‘“π‘Žπ‘™π‘œ 𝐡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑛 reported that the twin-screened venue’s final features were π‘‚π‘›π‘€π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘ and 𝐼 𝑆𝑑𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐡𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒.

A rebirth got underway when the property was acquired in 2021 by married couple Chris and Kira Wages. Their renovation plans drew national attention in the premiere episode of HGTV’s π»π‘œπ‘šπ‘’ π‘‡π‘œπ‘€π‘› πΎπ‘–π‘π‘˜π‘ π‘‘π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘, a restoration project series co-presented by π‘ƒπ‘’π‘œπ‘π‘™π‘’ magazine. That segment followed hosts Jasmine Roth and Ty Pennington as they worked with Chris and Kira to ready the cinema for re-opening.

Upon arriving, Ty asked how many movie theaters existed nearby.

πŠπˆπ‘π€: In our whole county, which is the same size as Rhode Island, just this one.

π“π˜: Wow …

πŠπˆπ‘π€: So we kind of had that as a motive to get a place where kids could hang out and it was safe and fun.

HGTV crews and local contractors gave the venue an extensive aesthetic and functional remodeling, with the aim of preserving its small-town appeal and what Chris called its “Western vibe.” After unveiling the completed upgrades, Jasmine said “It didn’t have any character before, it didn’t tell a story,” to which Kira agreed “It feels a lot warmer.”

HGTV aired the episode on April 24, 2022, four months after the cinema’s grand reopening offered showings of 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔 2 π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π΄π‘šπ‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘π‘Žπ‘› π‘ˆπ‘›π‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘‘π‘œπ‘”.

The theater next changed hands in spring of 2025 when the Wages sold it to Barnum project manager Steve Fichter and local merchants Jim and Sara Stevens, who also obtained a liquor license for the business.