Robinhood Theatre

The May 25, 1970, issue of Boxoffice reported that the former Robinhood Theatre was being razed to make way for a small, decorative mall, part of a beautification project in downtown Grand Haven.

A death notice in Boxoffice of November 11, 1950, datelined Grand Haven, says this: “Charles L. Davis, 62, owner and operator of the Airdome and Vaudette, first motion picture houses here, died here recently. After selling his theatres, he managed the Grand and Robin Hood theatres for Mrs. Margaret Vandenberg.”

Mrs. Vanden Berg (as her name was given in most Boxoffice items about her) also had a theater called the Crescent at Grand Haven, opened in 1925 and closed in 1939. A Mrs. Cora Vanden Berg, former owner of the Crescent Theatre, died at Grand Haven in 1944. I don’t know if Cora and Margaret were the same person or were perhaps sisters-in-law.

An inventory of buildings in Grand Haven says that the Robinhood Theatre was opened by Nathaniel Robbins in July, 1916, and closed in 1957. When the building was demolished in 1970 its site became a pedestrian passage to the parking area behind the block.

Google Maps has chosen to trap out street view inside a store and will not move farther than the sidewalk in front of its building. Instead of fruitlessly clicking on our Street View link for this page, see this bird’s eye view of the theater’s site from Bing Maps.

The Robinhood Theatre was designed by W. H. Clark of Grand Rapids, Michigan.