Yale Theatre

Joe Vogel on January 6, 2026 at 11:27 pm

The Yale Theatre building appears on the February, 1909 Sanborn map of Sapulpa, designated only as “Motion Pictures.” The house is still there on the April, 1911 Sanborn, but has been joined by two other moving picture houses on the same block, one at 1 S. Main, southeast corner of Dewey, and one at 17 S. Main. The latter was a house called the Lyric, which featured a small stage and a balcony. The small theater on the corner of Dewey was merely a storefront nickelodeon, and I haven’t found a name for it.

The biggest change comes with the August, 1915 Sanborn. The house that will be the Yale has been expanded into the storefront next door at 9 S. Main, and has acquired a stage. The name Yale is not listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD, but two Main Street houses are listed as the Scenic Theatre and the Thompson Theatre. There is also a house called the Grand Theatre with no location given. One of those three names must have been an aka for the Yale. The Lyric is gone, the Sanborn marking its site with the notation “Fire ruins burned June 1915.”

The 1915 Sanborn also shows a new theater that did not appear on the 1911 map, at 14-16 S. Main, across the street from the Lyric’s site. This was a house that was called the Empress during the 1920s, though it too might have opened under a different name, if it opened before the AMPD went to press.

seymourcox on February 27, 2011 at 6:45 pm

To view vintage exterior/interior photos of the Yale Theatre, go to below link and type in
“Yale Theatre Sapulpa”,
View link

seymourcox on February 27, 2011 at 6:21 pm

Address for the Yale Theatre is 7 S. Main, St.
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/624

jdale on August 13, 2010 at 2:50 pm

I watched this theater burn-down. If someone knows the date I would be interested to know when. I’m thinking that it would be between 1952-1955