Madera Theatre
2986 Main Street,
Madera,
PA
16661
2986 Main Street,
Madera,
PA
16661
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Joe, the photo of the Madera does show the Liberty name still up top, so they must have been the same. Perhaps it was built in 1921 as the article indicates, but not opened for some reason until a few years later.
This item from the October 10, 1940 issue of Film Daily is clearly wrong in its headline claim, but this still might have been a different building than the the one the Liberty had been in, perhaps the one next door: “First House for Madera
“Madera, Pa.—Opening of the new 500 seat Madera Theater, owned and constructed by Mid-West Theaters, Inc., gives this town its first motion picture house.” (“Mid-West Theaters” obviously a typo for “Mid-State Theaters.”)
Other than the mention of a house called the Pastime in a 1911 Billboard item, this is the only mention of Madera I’ve been able to find in the trade journals. Two houses were listed there in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but they were the Pastime and a house called the Royal. Locations weren’t provided for either.
I didn’t expect to find a Sanborn for such a dinky town, but there were several. I am almost positive this was at about 2986 Main, which is now a parking lot for the fire station. The odd thing is that this building, which definitely matches the plan of the Liberty from the photo, is not shown as a theater on the 1923 map. There is a theater in a one story building to the east.
From the ads, this definitely stayed longer than 30 years. I’ve added a small photo of the theater.
This has definitely been demolished, likely many years ago. Most of downtown is gone. It’s hard to say where it was. I found an old photo that looks like it might have been across from a gas station. The name had changed from Liberty to Madera by the early ‘40s. It was run by Mid-State Theatres.