Erie, PA Theaters in 1918: Columbia, Strand, Majestic and More

Erie, PA Theaters in 1918: Columbia, Strand, Majestic and more

Erie County Department of Health rating of movie theaters in 1918.

There were 17 theaters in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1918. Five of them were on Parade Street: the Isis, the Keystone, the New Wilkay, the Plaza and the White Eagle. Three theaters were on State Street, including the Nixon, the Princess and the Strand (the Warner Theatre didn't open until 1931).

Only four of the theaters had excellent sanitary conditions: the Strand, the Columbia, the Colonial and the Majestic. 

Joanne Marchant Heim added, "I never knew the Hillcrest was originally called the Hippodrome!!! The Strand and the Columbia were owned by Warner Bros. They could well afford to keep up their theaters and even build more, like the Warner during the Depression, thanks to Sam Warner. In 1926, he convinced his brothers to work with a sound engineering company called Western Electric and together they formed Vitaphone. The rest is history."

You might recognize some of the theaters in this list because they also appeared in an article on Old Time Erie called Erie Theaters in 1948: Warner, Columbia, Strand, Regent and more.

Enjoy more fun historical facts about Erie, PA at: Old Time Erie