New Coliseum Theatre

Built for live events in 1896. The New Coliseum Theatre in Toledo billed itself as the largest moving picture theatre in the United States in 1911 seating 3,700 patrons. The facility boasted having between 30 and 60 cars parked near it for motion pictures. The New Coliseum Theatre hosted a speech by President Taft in 1912.

The New Coliseum Theatre had difficulty as a motion picture house with the downtown theatres and more reasonably-sized, convenient neighborhood houses outperforming it. So the theatre switched to live events until 1925. In 1925, the New Coliseum Theatre advertised that it was exclusively playing motion pictures until 1927.

The theatre does not appear to have converted to sound and opted for live sporting events into the 1930’s. But on January 4, 1936, a three-hour fire completely destroyed the frame structure which was closed at the time of the blaze. The few remnants were cleared away and the New Coliseum Theatre was not rebuilt.

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