Bad Axe Theatre

The Bad Axe was part of the Schulte Circuit in the early sixties. William Schulte was owner. The chain was headquartered in Chicago. Other Schulte theaters in Illinois at the time were the Bliss in Blissfield, the Drive-In and Main in Coldwater, the Oakdale in Hazel Park, the Howell in Howell, the Mariner in Marine City, the Romeo in Romeo, the Strand in Tecumseh and the Ryan in Warren.

Here is a 1985 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d7m32o

I see Clint Eastwood is playing there in “FIREFOX”

My grandfather Albert S. “Al” Johnson’s theater job slides include one shot taken in September 1948. It shows four red art moderne style entrance doors with half-octagonal glass. Al was said to have held a patent on these “Johnson doors” and they were a feature of several of his Michigan theater jobs. These doors, or identical replacements, are seen in a 2020 view of the theater.

My uncle (Albert S. Johnson Jr.) compiled a list of Johnson Construction Co. theater projects and it shows two Bad Axe Theatre remodeling projects - in 1935 and 1947.

All but one of Michigan Schulte Circuit theaters listed in Ken C McIntyre’s 2007 post were built or remodeled by my grandfather’s company: the Main in Coldwater, the Oakdale in Hazel Park, the Howell in Howell, the Mariner in Marine City, the Romeo in Romeo, the Strand in Tecumseh and the Ryan in Warren. he built or remodeled a total of sixty-four Michigan theaters and drive-ins between the 1930s and 1950s.

The city was supposedly named by an Army surveyor who found an old rusted axe at an abandoned campsite at the junction of 2 trails.