State Theatre
156 Bank Street,
Burlington,
VT
05401
156 Bank Street,
Burlington,
VT
05401
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Thank you to everyone who posted information. Does anyone have any pictures? Cameras and film were expensive before the digital age, so I don’t have any photos, but I’d love to see some.
As a 15-year-old high school student I worked the whole summer of 1956 in the ticket booth at the State. My pay was $0.50 per hour and I worked from 1:00 to 9:00 all seven days a week. My $28 weekly salary was put in the bank for my college fund.
The building which contained the State Theater was a three-story brick building. The State Theater was 158 Bank Street and the adjoining business at 160 Bank Street was the Black Cat Café, which seems to have been the origin of the fire. The new building on the lot of 160 Bank Street is a one-story building and was built as a McDonald’s. Today it is a farm-to-table restaurant called The Farmhouse Tap & Grill. The Google Maps street view shows part of a bank building which was on the new lot West to where the State Theater stood. I posted a scan of the newspaper clipping of the theater burning, which confirms dallasmovietheaters assertion that “Bound for Glory” was one of the final films shown there. The right hand marquee was blown out by the explosion from the Black Cat Café (presumably) so it’s unclear at this time if that was the only film being shown at that time. I will post more if I can find anything else.
Fire on May 1, 1977 ended the theatre’s run. The State Theatre’s last film was “Bound for Glory.”
This opened on April 9th, 1917 as Orpheum and renamed State on November 22nd, 1930 (4 days before the Flynn). It was owned by Affiliated Theatres. I have posted both grand opening ads in the photo section for this cinema.
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report for the State, it’s Card # 575. Address is Bank Street. There is an exterior photo dated January 1941. Condition is Good. It was built in 1930 and is showing MGM product. There were 575 seats. The Majestic Theatre was listed as a competing theater, but no report card was prepared for it