Fireboys Theatre

915 S. Main Street,
Stillwater, OK 74074

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Fireboys Theater

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Previous Names: Gem Theatre

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Fireboys Theatre

The Gem Theatre was opened in the former Herb Ricker’s Garage in 1910. It was later sold to the fire department and was renamed Fireboys Theatre which raised money for the up-keep of the fire service. The photo is dated as 1910’s.

Contributed by Lost Memory

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

xxx
xxx on June 17, 2005 at 3:21 pm

Where’s the above mentioned photo?

xxx
xxx on June 18, 2005 at 2:22 pm

Thank you, lostmemory. A fun picture to see!

pnelson
pnelson on October 26, 2015 at 8:25 pm

Very unusual signage. Great building.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 26, 2015 at 11:23 pm

This PDF has a walking tour of downtown Stillwater and mentions several of the town’s theaters. This paragraph is about the Fireboys Theatre:

“Herb Ricker’s Garage was at 915 South Main. Herb Ricker owned the first automobile in town (a 1905 Oldsmobile), and at one time used his garage to house all the automobiles in Stillwater. An ordinance prohibited gasoline storage in residential sections of town, including that which was stored in automobile tanks. Ricker would start the cars for the owners, and also gave driving lessons. Ricker later bought the Pastime Theatre which had been located at 612 South Main, and moved it to this location after 1910. He renamed it the Gem Theatre, but then sold it to the Fire Department, and it became the Fireboys Theatre which raised money for the Fire Department.”
915 S. Main is the address at which we currently list the Stillwater Nickelodeon. I’m not sure if that is an actual aka, or if there is just some reference somewhere in which the Pastime/Gem/Fireboys was referred to generically as a Stillwater nickelodeon. I’ve found no references to a house of that name except at Cinema Treasures.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 1, 2020 at 10:39 pm

The “Selig Masterpiece” The Coming of Columbus was released in 1912. Major productions such as this sometimes circulated for years after their initial release, but it’s possible that the Fireboys Theatre, as a significant house in a good sized town, got it early in its run.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 1, 2020 at 10:56 pm

Here is an updated link to the PDF of the Downtown Stillwater walking tour, which has information about the town’s theaters.

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