Gralyn Theatre
119 E. Main Street,
Gouverneur,
NY
13642
119 E. Main Street,
Gouverneur,
NY
13642
1 person
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The Gralyn Theatre opened in January 15, 1920. It closed in 1989 and the auditorium was demolished in 2000.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Looks empty in the Google Street View. No visible signs, anyway. FedEx van parked in front of it in the current view.
An article about the Gralyn Theatre starts on page 8 of the July, 1988, issue of The Quarterly, published by the St. Lawrence County Historical Association (PDF here.) It includes one 1988 photo of the front, and a few smaller photos of decorative details in the house. The Gralyn opened on January 30, 1920, and in 1922 was taken over by James Papayanakos, whose family controlled the theater for the next few decades. As of 1988 the theater was open only Friday through Sunday.
Here is another PDF, this one featuring a page from the November 3, 1999, issue of the Gouverneur Tribune Press. There are three photos of the theater, but not very well reproduced. Still, it’s possible to tell from a photo of the auditorium that it was considerably wider than the building that still stands at 119 E. Main Street.
The article says that the roof of the auditorium had partly collapsed the previous year, and that the deteriorating structure would probably soon be demolished. This must have taken place. The 1920 auditorium must have been added behind an existing store building, still standing, which became the theater entrance. It is rather narrow and looks like it dates from the 19th century. Google’s satellite view shows a grassy field behind the building and its neighbors, which would have been the site of the demolished auditorium.
This article about the Gralyn Theatre appeared in Exhibitors Herald of January 3, 1920:
This web page from the Gouverneur Museum has a photo of the Gralyn Theatre’s projector, which is among the museuem’s holdings. The accompanying article says that the house closed in 1989 and was demolished in 2000. There is also a link to a 1981 photo of the house at American Classic Images.Uploaded two photos from the Gouverneur Museum collection: the facade; the removal of the marquee when it became unsafe.