Butler Theatre

The town of Butler had an eponymously-named movie house that appears to have been housed in four different locations. The silent-era Butler Theater may not have made a sound-era conversion. With just 364 citizens, that would not have been too surprising. However, on August 1, 1934, the Butler Theatre has its sound-era grand opening in the Knights of Pythias fraternal hall with “Midnight Warning” with William Boyd.

On April 4, 1935, the theatre moves to its new digs with a sold out grand opening still called the Butler Theatre with 250-seats. Not long after its tenth anniversary and during a screening of “To Have or Have Not” on June 2, 1945, that property suffers a major fire loss with all 200 patrons escaping without injury. The City of Butler was in the “have not” in terms of a local cinema.

Due to Wartime shortages, the new and final Butler Theatre launches January 17, 1947. The trade press still covers the theatre into 1956. There’s no precise date of closure but now with just 404 citizens and the impact from television, its days were likely numbered. The town of Butler appears to have been without a hardtop theatre thereafter.

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