The Maplewood Theater 1926-1967

In 1912 the Maplewood Theater was operating in its new building (constructed two years earlier?) at 7320 Manchester.  In 1915 it was listed as the Maplewood Lyric Theater but apparently operated only briefly under that name.  For unknown reasons its tenure at this address was short.  By 1916 the building was sold to Emil L. Scheidt who converted it to Scheidt Hardware (see previous post) which it is today.

In 1926 the Maplewood Theater reopened in a new building at 7180 Manchester very near the City of Maplewood’s eastern limit.  1926 is also notable as the year of the creation of Route 66 running just a few feet away from the front of the new theater building.

This new building seated 1079 customers.  Interestingly the entrance was in Maplewood and the auditorium in the City of St. Louis.  The auditorium was very wide with four aisles and a large stage which was used to host movie stars promoting their films.

The Maplewood Theater closed in 1967 and the auditorium was razed in 1969.  Since the auditorium was accessed by a pass-through in the street front building its razing left the larger building of apartments and storefronts unrazed if not unfazed.

Due to some admirable work by unknown preservationist/s the original letters spelling MAPLEWOOD were saved after the marquee had been demolished.  They were restored in the last decade for a project that didn’t gel. They are now crated and in the city garage.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the marquee was rebuilt and they were returned to their original positions?  There are no longer movies to be advertised but the marquee could sport new electronic billboards advertising city events.  Additionally, since the location of the marquee is just inside the city’s eastern limit, the restored letters would perfectly bookend the MAPLEWOOD signs installed on the MetroLink overpass at the western end of town.

These original artifacts survive as does the original theater building created the same year as the now legendary Route 66.  Reunited they would rapidly become a source of pride for the community and an attraction to the much wider community of fans of the Mother Road that once ran straight through the heart of Maplewood.

Some of the information in this article was found on the website Cinema Treasures.