State Theatre

John David Love is there any intent of further restoration of this building? There is some movement in the community. The Graves Hotel has the restaurant and bar open and they are working on rooms, although it is for sale. There is also a micro brewery under development and some other projects in the works. The citizens of Harlowton would like to see something done with this structure, it would be nice if it could be restored and Harlowton would become a destination location of sorts if there was entertainment I believe people would come. There are microbreweries in a couple of neighboring towns now too.

The AMERICAN STATE Theatre in Harlowton was purchased by The American State Theatre Corporation in 2013 and details have been completed for restoration of the original theatre built between 1917-1920 as the American Theatre, designed by noted Montana architects Link & Haire. It’s auditorium was identical to Link & Haire’s Judith Theatre in Lewistown. (See CT auditorium view). In the last fire in 2013, the stage and dressing rooms were not destroyed. The building deemed safe and structurally sound by a leading engineer’s report to the Wheatland Council. Found in the dressing room were over 100 blue prints of the original Link & Haire drawings, while a further 30 designs were located in the Montana State Archives. To read about the future plans for the American State Theatre Restoration look in the Harlowton “Live” site. There is a complete historical report about theatres and cinemas in Harlowton. In the new concept the building will be multi-purpose! Any cinema will operated in complete co-operation with the Harlowton High School’s Harlo Theatre, and provide alternative cinema fare. John David Love.

The State was in operation by 1936. An obituary published in the April 7, 1956, issue of Boxoffice said that the late Hans J. Petersen had managed the State Theatre at Harlowton for the Knutson circuit from 1936 to 1945.