Record #:

23395

Author(s):

Kammerer, Roger

Abstract:

After Greenville's Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in 1910, Samuel T. White sponsored the building of a theatre. Samuel Tilden White (1873-1966) a leading merchant and county commissioner, decided to build a theatre in 1914 after the Greenville’s Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in February 1910. In 1913, White hired Burrell Riddick as the contractor for his one-story theatre that included 700 seats, a large state, and balcony. White brought the best of Broadway road shows to Greenville. The theatre was leased in 1924 to Henry J. Paradon and in 1930 was leased to the Publix-Saenger Theatres of North Carolina. It became known as the “State Theatre,” opening on July 28, 1930. The theatre closed for several years in the 1950s, and Van Jones of Ayden reopened it on August 19, 1960. About 1972, it became known as the “Park Theatre.” Carmike Cinemas eventually owned the theatre, who ran it as a $1.50 movie house. The Park Theatre closed in 1999.

Source:

Greenville Times / Pitt's Past (NC Microforms), Vol. Issue , Mar 7-21 2007, p7, f

Subject(s):

Theaters--Greenville