Roxy Theatre
229-231 W. Broadway Street,
Princeton,
IN
47670
229-231 W. Broadway Street,
Princeton,
IN
47670
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Affiliated Theaters Inc. (Indianapolis)
Previous Names: New Star Theatre, Noble Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The building was constructed in 1902. The New Star Theatre was opened in September 1909. On December 21, 1917 it was renamed Noble Theatre. It was renamed Roxy Theatre on May 16, 1931 with Edna May Oliver in “Laugh and Get Rich”. It was a single screen with seating given at 450. It was located one block to the east of the Princeton Theatre. By 1950 it was operated by Affiliated Theaters Inc. of Indianapolis, IN.
They closed the Roxy Theatre as a mobie theatre in 1957 and it was used for special events, finally closing in 1958. It was demolished in December 1964 and a new office building was built on the site.
Contributed by
Chuck
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The address and likely most of the rest of the information is wrong. There has never been an address higher than 232, and this is obviously on the wrong side of the street.
I suggest this is the theater shown at 229-231 on the 1914 Sanborn. It’s obviously an older building that has been remodeled, and the 1907 map shows a 1-2 story livery stable there. I wish we could read the little stone plaque up top in the photo to be sure.
At any rate, the entire south side of the block has been destroyed. There is a drive through bank on the corner now, which before a remodel appeared to be roughly the right age to have replaced the theater right after it closed.
Based on information from Ken Roe, this was originally called the New Star (possibly carrying the Star name from one of the early attempts to open a theater?), but is not listed in 1926. May have sat dormant before reopening as the Roxy?
Found a slightly different photo from possibly the same day, and the plaque reads ‘J.W. Shuel 1902’.
After closing as the New Star, this may have become the Grand, or less likely the Noble, both of which are listed from 1926 through at least 1931 in information provided by Ken. The capacity given for the Grand matches that listed for this theater.
This started off as the New Star Theatre in September 1909, and the Star became the Noble Theatre on December 21, 1917 with Mae Marsh in “Polly Of The Circus” plus a performance by the Arnulf Cintura Orchestra.
This was not known as the Grand Theatre, due to the Grand being located a block away from the Noble Theatre on the same road. The Grand Theatre (formerly known as the Grand Theatorium) which opened in 1911 planned to close for a time due to the installation of sound on January 1, 1930 to both the Noble and the Grand, but this would later led to the closure of the Grand Theatre shortly after the Noble Theatre reopened as a sound theater.
In April 1931, the announcement came that the Noble Theatre would become the Roxy Theatre. After remodeling, the Roxy Theatre would then open its doors on May 16, 1931 with a one-day showing of “Laugh And Get Rich” along with an unnamed selected short subject. One of the original proprietors of the Noble/Roxy (first as the Roxy), J.B. Green, died on November 13, 1938 at the age of 60.
Shortly after World War II died, the former dominant theater in town, the old Princeton Theatre, was destroyed by a fire. This led the Roxy Theatre to become the dominant theater in Princeton until the launch of the new Princeton Theatre in July 1948.
The Roxy was dying down on films right when 1957 rolled along, and became a special events theater until closing its doors in 1958, and was placed on sale. It was razed in December 1964.