American Theatre
98 Main Street,
Canton,
NY
13617
98 Main Street,
Canton,
NY
13617
2 people
favorited this theater
The American Theatre on Main Street in Canton is a five screen theatre. It originally was a one screen movie theatre which was built in 1921. This one theatre had a balcony that was later sectioned off and the balcony became a separate upstairs theatre. In 2000 the downstairs theatre was also sectioned off into four separate theatere and now has a total of five.
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
I own an old postcard (postmarked 1928) with a nice photo and a caption that reads: “AMERICAN – Seventy Thousand Dollar Moving Picture Theater Erected in 1921 by B. H. Rogers, Canton, N.Y.”
The theatre has a great marquee but the inside is quite another story. If it weren’t for the original lighting fixtures (they’re kind of art deco and very unique) you’d never know you were in an old movie palace. Actually, there are also some visual traces of the molded plaster from the balcony’s front in the rear of two of the auditoriums. I suppose if Jeff hadn’t carved up the theatre into more screens someone would have built a multiplex just ouside of town resulting in the American being torn down. It certainly was the lesser evil
The Address for the American Theater is not 96 Main St. it is 98 Main St.
winter, 1962: When a freshman at St. Lawrence University, I went down to the American one night to see a young scruffy folk singer singing solo with acoustic guitar. His name? Bobby Dylan! That was history!
Three 1952 photos added. It was originally built, owned & managed by (Byron H.) Rogers & Southworth at a cost of $70,000, until Alex Papyanakos bought it in the early 1920’s. Additional history courtesy of Historian Town & Village Canton NY Facebook page.