Colonial Theatre

kencmcintyre on May 4, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Here is a December 1975 item from the Hagerstown Daily Mail:

The last stage performance in the 61-year old Colonial Theater in downtown Hagerstown is scheduled Saturday night, December 13. The Free State Country Music Jamboree will present its final show in the historic theater, built in 1914, and the theater’s last public entertainment show. The theater has been sold and will become a church at the start of the new year.

Reserved and general admission tickets are available for the show by telephoning 781-2800 or stopping at the Colonial Theater box office on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Saturday’s show, however, will not be the last Free State Jamboree, Kline will re-open the Jamboree on Saturday, January 10, in North Hagerstown High School auditorium with a show by Mel Street, Freddie Hart and the Heartbeats, and Buddy Rick and the Country Giants.

A public sale of historic mementoes from both the Colonial and Maryland Theaters will be held at the Maryland Theater on Saturday, December 20. The sale will include usable theater items.

mpoyner on January 27, 2009 at 3:13 pm

If anyone knows someone who used to work at the Colonial, please also contact me about that.

Again, my email address is mpoyner AT gmail DOT com

mpoyner on January 27, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Hi, everyone. My name is Matt Poyner. The Colonial is now home to Bridge of Life Church. This is the same church as Faith Chapel, just a name change. The building was bought by the church in the late 70s and of course some things have been changed on the inside to make it more conducive to being a church, but the auditoriaum itself is fantastic with it’s vaulted ceilings and balcony.

Unfortunately, there was a fire in the late 1930s, which forced full interior renovations, so the interior is not in the same ornate style as the exterior facade, although there are some minor flourishes. The stage is still there. I know that the church has added a wooden altar down in front of the stage, and other obvious things needed for sound systems, musicians, etc. Backstage is still the same as it’s been for a hundred years, I imagine. There is a trap door leading to a room under the stage which we all used to play with as kids (I’m 33 now).

You’ll happy to know that a small group of us have just started having free movie showings every other Saturday. These showings are free and open to the public, not just our church members. Free popcorn and sodas, so come check it sometime. We still have some memorabilia from the building’s time as a theatre.

If anyone has any memorabilia from this theatre that they want to sell, please write me at mpoyner AT gmail DOT com. I am trying to put together some stuff to create a display for movie nights, and other times.

Our facade is beautiful. (check it out at http://www.bridgeoflife.org)) We are listed with the National Register of Historic Places, but we can’t seem to get any grant money to restore the facade because of our non-profit org status. Don’t really understand the issues there, but we don’t the money to restore it on our own. Anyone have any suggestions? Some of the beautiful work that adorns the facade has begun to crumble and occasionally fall down. It would be a shame to see it go bad.

Feel free to ask any questions that you may have about the building and it’s history. I know a little bit about it, but others here may know more.

kencmcintyre on March 30, 2007 at 10:41 pm

Here is the website for the church, which has a recent photo:
http://www.fcmin.org/

RobertR on April 28, 2005 at 2:12 pm

Here is another shot

http://www.roadsidenut.com/hagert1103.jpg

melders on April 3, 2004 at 1:30 pm

Micheal, not every theater can still show movies. Here in America, it costs a lot of money to keep a theater running. At least when the theater becomes a church, it is not torn down.