Towne Theatre
124 E. High Street,
Pottstown,
PA
19464
124 E. High Street,
Pottstown,
PA
19464
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The Towne Theatre closed for the final time on June 29, 1976 with Walt Disney’s “Follow Me Boys” and “Ben And Me”, and was last operated by Fox Theatres who also operated a handful other theaters across Northeast Pennsylvania.
The Towne Theatre originally planned to reopen as a special events theater under the name “New Towne Theatre” in March 1977 featuring performing arts and classic movies, but unfortunately, four months later on June 14, 1977, the Towne Theatre and four other stores were sold to Donald Specht, who had planned to tear down the Towne Theatre for a parking lot. The Towne Theatre was demolished afterward but the Smith Family Plaza Park was instead built on the site of the former theater.
Reopened as Towne Theatre on November 15, 1967 with “To Sir, With Love”.
This brief article from the June 28, 2015 Reading Eagle says that, yes, the Hippodrome was renamed the Towne Theatre in the 1970s, but was closed before the end of that decade. The article also says the Hippodrome had opened in December, 1914.
Was the Hippodrome Theatre later renamed to Towne Theatre by William Goldman Theatres?
The Hippodrome was still open in 1971 because I took the kids I babysat there year to see a movie
The Arcadia Press book “Around Pottstown” (Google Books preview here) has a photo of the Hippodrome dating from ca.1917, though I think it might be a bit earlier. There’s a horse and carriage on the street, but no cars. The book also has a ca.1949 photo of the Hipp, which by then sported a moderne front.
Flickr user Liatris displays this colorized version of the ca.1917 picture. Adjacent in the photostream is a cropped close-up of the theater entrance.
A Moller organ, opus 3058, was installed in this theater in 1921.