Lyric Theatre

The Lyric Theatre was a movie theatre that had a 30-year run from 1909 to 1939. The Lyric Theatre’s first 20 years were in the silent era. The theatre actually was located in a converted location on 3rd Street for its first year when Long and Sturgon opened it with with live vaudeville support by short films in May of 1909. After a one-year lease expired, the film moved to Main Street in 1910 by new operator A.D. Perry.

Well-known Stigler exhibitor Jack Pierce, who had been in the industry since 1912, moved to town to take on the Lyric Theatre in January of 1927. He moved the Lyric Theatre elsewhere on Main Street and a neighboring drug store served as the de facto destination for candy and treats prior to and after those show. Moreover, in April of 1927, the theatre now was air conditioned.

In 1929, Pierce not only brought sound to the Lyric Theatre to keep it viable but was awarded a plaque for “perfect sound” by a trade press periodical. Even more perfect sound was installed on August 7, 1931 in a refresh followed by a new RCA sound system on July 1, 1937.

That same year, Pierce opened the Cabin Theatre on 3rd Street with the Log Cabin Conoco Station as its neighbor. In 1939, “Jesse James” and “Dodge City” set attendance records at the Lyric Theatre but it would close. The location and became a feed store.

Pierce would add the long-running Time Theatre in 1941 in the the Behan Hardware building on Main Street and the Place Theatre on August 29, 1946 on 3rd Street with the Cabin Theatre closing in 1943/4. Already with the Time Theatre and Place Theatre in the 1950’s, he opened the Meadow Drive-In in June 1953. That naming disappointed those who were pulling for the Date Drive-In so he could have the Time, Place and Date theatres in Stigler. It wasn’t meant to be.

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