Bethel Theatre
7406 Main Street,
Bethel,
NC
27812
7406 Main Street,
Bethel,
NC
27812
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This long-closed theatre was opened by 1928. There are some nice Art Deco style details on the façade, including some incised Vitrolite mostly hidden under a sloppy coat of white paint.
After closing, it seems to have been used for some time as a Masonic lodge. The front of the theatre appears shabby and abandoned, but after the collapse or demolition of some neighboring buildings, an entrance was installed in the south wall toward the rear of the auditorium, and the building is used as a senior center.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The Bethel Theatre was listed in the 1951 FDY with 360 seats. A house called the Bethel Theatre is listed in the 1928 and 1929 FDYs, but no seating capacity is given. The house at 7406 Main might or might not have been the same theater updated and reopened. The south side wall of this building as seen in this photo has been painted, but is clearly old brick and looks like it was extended upward from a common wall it once shared with an adjacent building which has since been demolished. Evidence of a similar common wall can be seen at the front of the building on the north end. This building could well have housed the Bethel Theatre of 1829-29.
I can’t find any insurance maps of Bethel, but the thing to the north was a very small store that looked a lot like the remaining building with the ice cream ad on the wall. It’s visible on streetview in 2008. At that point, the lot to the south was bare dirt, so the buildings to the south had probably just been demolished.