Southland Theatre

The Majestic Theatre opened July 9, 1920 with Lewis Stone in “The River’s End”. McLemore and Adams. The new-build T.G. Moren Building housing the theatre also held other businesses. The town’s Princess Theatre closed a week later bowing to the new Majestic Theatre. New operators took on the Majestic Theatre on June 18, 1921 and renamed it after the county’s name, the Laurel Theatre, relaunching with Elmo Lincoln in “The Flaming Disk”.

In September of 1926, the theatre was acquired and remodeled by R.H. Crowell of Stanford, Kentucky who renamed it as the Southland Theatre at its reopening on October 1, 1926 with Richard Dix in “Let’s Get Married”. Under new operator Lee Moffitt, in June of 1929, the Southland instituted sound film service.

Completing its 30-year leasing agreement, new operators O. James “Jimmy” Minnix and H.V. McClure had carried out a refresh in 1951 in the renamed Brock-(J.A.) Karr Building. Not long after, a truck hit an electrical meter that purportedly set off a fire destroying the entire Karr Building on April 6, 1951. The London Wallpaper & Paint Company, Henson’s Clothing, The Grill, and Barton’s Jewell Box were also destroyed. The good news is that the new Reda Theatre that had opened in 1948 was on the diagonal corner of Main Street so the movies could continue.

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