Mayflower Arts Center
9 W. Main Street,
Troy,
OH
45373
9 W. Main Street,
Troy,
OH
45373
1 person
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Mayflower Arts Center (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Teicher Theaters
Architects: Harry I. Schenck, Harry J. Williams
Firms: Schenck & Williams
Functions: Art Gallery, Movies, Special Events
Previous Names: Mayflower Theatre, Mayflower Art Theater
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
937.552.5848
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Apr 30, 2013 — Theatre items for sale in Troy
The Mayflower Theatre was opened on January 31, 1928 with Wallace Beery in “Wife Savers”. It had 600-seats and was equipped with a Wurlitzer 2 manual 6 ranks organ which was opened by organist Edward Dollinger. Later taken over by Teicher Theaters who operated 43 screens in 10 theatres in four states. It operated as a discount house. It was twinned on May 25, 1988. On March 17, 1995 a 3rd screen was added, and on June 7, 1996 it became a quad. The Mayflower Art Theater was closed in 2011.
In July 2012, new owners took over the building to convert it into the Mayflower Arts Center, an art gallery and a future presentation space. Two of the screens are currently unused, and the presentation space will be created in the third screen, a 135-seat theatre which will also screen occasional art films.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
now closed: http://www.teichertheaters.org/mayflower
when this theater was open in the 2000’s it dawned an 40-45 seat screening room with a projector with reel to reel mounted on the wall behind it in the front where the Law offices used to be, and it was tucked behind the concession stand. You walked down a hallway and ran into a 100+ seat theater, and then you went to the right down a narrow hall to the final theater which featured the original screen on the back wall. Instead of splitting this theater down the center it was split in the front and back.
Restrooms were in the basement, and were often cleaned with a garden hose, and people complained constantly about film pacement and cleanlieness..
at one time it was showing .99 movies on weekends only and finally closed for good, which is odd because i believed the building was actually owned by Tiecher, his son lived in the apartment above,
I purchased the Mayflower Theater from Mr. Teicher in July 2012. It is now called The Mayflower Arts Center (www.MayflowerArtsCenter.com) and will feature gallery and exhibit spaces, artist studios, classrooms, and eventually a performance stage. We are trying to learn as much about the history of this beautiful treasure as possible. Thank you for the information you’ve posted here!
Architects were Schenk & Williams, from Dayton, Ohio, as noted on the original blueprints I found carelessly discarded behind the stage. I’m in the process of trying to preserve them. Here’s wiki link to architects: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_%26_Williams
Apparently the Mayflower Theatre’s organ was still in use at least as late as 1940, when the October 26 issue of The Piqua Daily Call made reference to “…Donald Wells, organist at the Mayflower theater….” Wells was visiting Delaware to attend a concert by French organist and composer Joseph Bonnet.
On the 1931 Sanborn, the auditorium has a note: ‘Steam Beams’. I assume this is a goof, and the surveyor intended to write ‘Steel’, but if it means something, I’d love to know.
This article about the Mayflower says that the house opened on January 31, 1928. The article does not mention the Mayflower’s “steam beams.” Perhaps they were only a local urban legend.
Grand opening ad
Opened January 31st, 1928.
Two screens on May 25th, 1988, 3 on March 17th, 1995, 4 on June 7th, 1996. 1988 ad posted.