Princess Theatre
216 Seneca Street,
Oil City,
PA
16301
216 Seneca Street,
Oil City,
PA
16301
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The Princess Theatre was opened by 1914. It was demolished around 1921.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
If the Princess was still in operation in 1929, it’s possible that there were two different theaters of that name in Oil City. A 2009 comment by kencmcintyre on the Lyric Theatre page cites a 1974 Oil City Derrick photo caption saying that Princess was one of the aka’s for the second Lyric Theatre, at 216-218 Seneca Street. We don’t yet have a page for the first Lyric, but it was at 106-108 Seneca, and was in operation prior to 1916, when it was renovated, and then the Lyric name was moved to the former Orpheum/Princess/Cameo location in 1927. One page says that the house became the Cameo in the early 1920s, so the listing for the Princess in 1929 was either a different house or the FDY just hadn’t gotten around to removing the name from their listings.
The Princess was at 216-218, and should be listed as demolished. It was replaced by the Lyric at some point after 1914-15. It was a very basic wooden one story building with a two story brick stage tower. It does not appear on the 1906 map, but had opened by 1913. If the Lyric history is correct, it was probably demolished around 1921. Both the Lyric and the Princess are still listed in the 1926 and 1927 Yearbooks, so it’s possible that the present Lyric building dates to sometime after 1921.
The theater at 106 Seneca was the Majestic. It may be that the Majestic was remodeled in 1916, and renamed the Lyric. The problem is that the large bank at 106 was constructed in 1926, meaning the Lyric name had to have been moved again.