Hamilton Community Arts Theatre

The Artilla Theatre was just north of the depot and its name fused the names of its owners including Mr. and Mrs. Harry Till. The Artilla namesake is the sixth for the venue but on February 5, 1949, it’s all over as the Artilla Theatre.

The new Till Theatre would be built to replace it. It was a new-build venue costing $50,000 and opening here on June 2, 1949. On February 5, 1955, the venue is equipped for widescreen to present CInemaScope titles. Mr. Till dies and R.L. Adkins and Larry Allen operate the theater until its closure on April 22, 1961. A group of local business owners decide to cooperatively operate the venue because they appreciated the foot traffic of the theater. They rename it as the Civic Theatre September 7, 1961 rebooting with “G.I. Blues” with Elvis Presley.

I think we should probably split the listings if we can confirm the name history. If the current building was never anything but the Civic, then it shouldn’t be listed as the Till/Artilla. Of course, it depends what exactly is meant by ‘destroyed’. It’s possible the original building was only gutted.

This theater did burn and should probably be listed as closed/destroyed. I have always heard this theater referred to as the Till and have never heard it called the Artilla. It was replaced by a cinder block & brick building that may have been originally called the Till, but I only knew it as Civic. It is located on what is now call Penney Dr. J.C. Penney’s boyhood home sits across the street from the theater where the train depot used to stand. I’ve been told that the Artilla/Till was a reverse theater. When you entered the auditorium you were at the screen with the seats facing you. Considering the lay of the lot that makes sense. I would appreciate the link to the newspapers articles Ken Mc refers to.

I didn’t have any confirmation that the theater was rebuilt after the fire. Apparently it was.

The theater was rebuilt by Mr. Till. I spent many Saturday nights there during the 1960’s and early 1970’s when the re-built theater was known as the Civic. Don’t know who owned/managed the theater during this time (I think there were several owners/managers), but I do recall a Mrs. Trosper sold tickets for a time. She was a really sweet lady. The Civic eventually closed for good in the early 1970’s and sat vacant for several years. The community eventually bought the building, fixed it up, added on to the building and now uses it as a community theater. Hamilton is a nice place and the birthplace & boyhood home of J.C. Penney.