Star Theatre

128 Rue de l'Eglise,
Edmundston, NB E3V 1H8

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DavidZornig
DavidZornig on October 26, 2019 at 4:48 am

Yep, that explains it. Street view shows the peaked structure on the corner with siding repairs in process, from the collapse that occurred next to it. The peaked structure is 20 Rue Hill. So the Star used 22 Rue Hill and is demolished. The Capitol used the 132 Rue de l'Église address, is also demolished, so I will update that accordingly.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 26, 2019 at 4:30 am

Actually the Capitol building itself must have been one of the two that burned in 2012.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 26, 2019 at 4:28 am

It turns out that the building collapsed in March, 2018, following a heavy snowfall. According to this article it was no longer occupied by Spilly’s. Two adjacent buildings on Rue de l'Église, which must have been those between the Star and the Capitol, had burned down six years earlier.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on October 26, 2019 at 4:08 am

In looking at your website link, Spilly’s and everything to the right of it have since been torn down.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on October 26, 2019 at 4:06 am

Street view shows both the Star Theatre and Capitol Theatre buildings as demolished. Neighboring structures are still standing. The addresses for the Star would have been 128 Rue de l'Église, not Hill or Hill Rue. The paint store next to the Capitol Theatre in the `50s photo, is today Carrier Pelletier Law Firm, located at 134 Rue de l'Église. So the Capitol would have been 132 Rue de l'Église. Not sure what building Spilly’s Resto Bar is in, but it appears the small house with the peaked roof next door to where the Star Theatre was is it.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 26, 2019 at 3:41 am

This web page about the former Star Theatre building says that it was built around 1900 and converted into the Star Theatre in 1927. It says that the Star operated for “…more than 40 years….” Today the building, listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places since 2008, is occupied by a dining and drinking establishment, Spilly’s Resto-Bar.

If that page is correct about the 1927 opening year, then there must have been an earlier Star Theatre at another location in Edmunston, as a house of that name was mentioned in the May 5, 1923 issue of The Moving Picture World. The owner of the house in 1923 was named Charles T. Johnson. The historic listing page says the Star was owned by two lawyers named John Stevens and Aaron Lawson. The 1960-61 Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry lists the Star Theatre, operated by Mrs. H. M. Nesbitt, with 560 seats.