Uptown Theatre

This theatre was once a commercial building (The Wheeler Blase Company) that was being transformed into a theatre in December 1937 to be operated by Peter C. Schramm. The Uptown Theatre was opened on August 24, 1938 with Irene Dunn in “Joy of Living”

Henry Vander Horst completed the work for $30,000. The Kalamazoo Gazette, in its review of the renovations noted the theatre’s Streamline Moderne style design, its sleek glass and stainless-steel materials, and its many innovations. These included magic eye entry doors and drinking fountains - both of which would operate automatically as a patron approached. The theatre also had a second-floor soundproof cry room for parents and babies.

After 20 years of life, the Uptown Theatre closed in 1959. In 1967, the Schram estate sold the building to Waber Development, who made alterations and leased the building for a number of years. In 1991, the city’s Downtown Development Authority took title and razed the building for the Arcadia Creek Redevelopment.

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