Ashland Theatre
98 Court Square,
Ashland,
AL
36251
98 Court Square,
Ashland,
AL
36251
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The 225-seat Ingram’s Theatre was opened around 1921 when it was operated by E.F. Ingram. It became the Ashland Theatre. It was the second out of the 2 theatres to open during the same month of February 1934, which opened during the same week at 4 days apart, with the other being the short-lived Paramount Theatre. The Ashland Theatre opened on February 19, 1934 with a special event entitled “City Wives And Country Relations” starring “Rube” Brasfield. It will later become a movie house on June 28, 1934 with Claude Raines in “The Invisible Man” along with an unnamed comedy and cartoon.
Right after the Paramount Theatre closed its doors in 1936, the Ashland Theatre is the only popular movie house in Ashland. On August 14, 1947, Strong Simplex high intensity lamps and Killmorgan Snaplite moulded screens were installed, calling it a remodel.
On November 25, 1954, the theatre installed CinemaScope, with “How To Marry A Millionaire” being the first film to show in CinemaScope at the Ashland Theatre along with a featurette “The Tournament Of Roses”, and a Fox Movietone Newsreel.
The Ashland Theatre continued to operate throughout the 1960’s as well, closing around 1968. Around 2006, following restorations it reopened as a performing arts theatre.
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
On August 18, 1914 the Town of Ashland deeded a property which had been an alleyway for development. This was the site of the Ashland Theatre. The theatre was expanded in 1943 reopening as the New Ashland Theatre. The building was sold in 1968, perhaps when it closed.
In 2005 the Steele family purchased the building and after renovations reopened it as a perform art center the following year. No clue what happened prior to the purchase by the Steels.
The address is 98 Court Square.
Uploaded past and present images.
The theatre complex consisting of 3 buildings is currently for sale at BizBuySell https://www.bizbuysell.com/Business-Opportunity/Preforming-Arts-Theatre-commercial-buildings/1711599/?fbclid=IwAR1b7yIUpi8vaPGwNog9BFWjFbPBwO0gexMON43YuPPUy_H4BVWcdMxf8m8
Ashland Theatre is an aka for Ingram’s Theatre. A biography of E. A. Ingram says that he entered the theater business in Ashland when he was 19, which would have been 1920 or 1921, and that “[t]he theater was named ‘Ingram’s’ in the early years and later became the Ashland Theater.”