North Side Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on January 19, 2025 at 2:42 pm

The Theatorium opened on April 16, 1907. A second Theatorium opened in July 15, 1907 on Main Street causing some confusion to modern-day Cinema Treasures. That second theatre had a lower floor confectionery and ice cream soda fountain serving as a de facto concession stand for the second floor theatre. This entry should really be devoted to that venue - Garnette’s Theatorium - in its North Side Square location because it was the one that lasted some 14 years mostly under the name of the North Side Theatre.

The Keck Building was home to the Garnette’s Theatorium until the Garnett’s sold out on June 9, 1911 to A.R. Fawley with the venue becoming the Theatorium (taking the name of the original April 16, 1907 which had gone out of business). Fawley sold the venue to Bert Deardoff in 1912 who changed its name to the North Side Theatre on July 19, 1912 showing Marshall Stedman in “The Coming of Columbus.”

The North Side Theatre and the Grand Theatre become the two long-standing 1910s movie houses. The Grand Theatre - which had opened in 1906 and became a full time picture show in 1908 - was a competing Bryan downtown theatre which will soon have its own Cinema Treasures page and was sometimes called the Grand Theatorium by the local press. So this may be where there is some confusion in the Cinema Treasures database regarding “Theatorium.”

The Temple Theatre opened on February 16, 1921 by the operators of the North Side. They announced its closure at that point with the venue becoming a retail shoe store, the Syndicate Cut Price Shoe Store, that launched May 7, 1921. The Temple operators would then purchase the competing Grand Theatre and close it, as well, in 1922. This entry should be the North Side Theatre formerly Garnette’s Theatorium and, technically, Theatorium “#2” since there was an earlier venue using that same moniker. If any of that’s of any interest.