Strand Theatre

The Rex Theatre was a silent movie theater in downtown Morristown, Tennessee. Guy P. Mathes and Charles Wylie opened the venue as the Rex Theatre on February 15, 1912. The upper three floors of the building housed a hotel that was called the Mitchell, the Dixie, the Jefferson, and, finally, the Morris Hotel.

The theatre struggled and changed hands numerous times. In 1913, W.H. Mauk and R.R. Fleming took on the venue. They installed a stage to accommodate vaudeville acts. J.E. Burke of the Read and Colonial Theatre took over the operation in 1914. He closed the Rex Theatre later that year. Mrs. Charles Snyder took on the property relaunching it on May 15, 1915 and failing.

In 1916, H.C. Jackson took on the property and renamed it as the Strand Theatre. Riding Metro and Bluebird film contracts, the Strand Theatre found its audience. Crescent Amusement, which operated the Princess Theatre, took over the Strand Theatre operating it as a part-time African-American house on weekdays. The Strand Theatre was closed permanently by Crescent Amusement at the end of 1929.

The Dixie Hotel turned into the Jefferson Hotel and its owner tore out the theatre equipment in early-1930. This allowed the hotel to expand to the entire building that added a formal lobby, restaurant and kitchen. The Strand Theatre marquee stayed on the front of the building until it was demolished.

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