Colonial Theater
East Central Street,
Natick,
MA
01760
East Central Street,
Natick,
MA
01760
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: M & P Theaters
Architects: John Edmond Kelley
Styles: Colonial Revival
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The Colonial Theater on East Central Street in downtown Natick, was built by Fred Harris and opening in December 1929. (He was also the builder of the Natick Theatre, which was located on Washington Street.) He died before the building was finished. Harris wife picked up the reigns and ran the theater “with an iron hand” said first candy girl Ann Muroney Moynihan.
The lobby had a Colonial style look, with a fireplace and mirrors. Over the fireplace, was an enormous mantle. The theater closed in the 1950’s and was torn down in 1987.
Contributed by
David Wodeyla
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The Colonial belonged to the M&P Chain.
The opening day festivities were described in the Natick Bulletin of December 6, 1929. Here’s a link to the complete story.
http://natickmass.info/natickcolonial.htm
Check the main page, natickmass.info for stories about other theatres in the Framingham Natick area.
The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report for the Colonial has a photo dated May 1941. The films playing are Clive Brook in"Convoy" and Gene Autry in “Back in the Saddle”. The marquee has “Colonial” across the front with 3 lines on the side, using white letters on a black background. There is a vertical above the marquee. The report states that the theatre has been a MGM customer for over 10 years, that the theatre is over 15 years old; that the theatre is in Good condition; and has 992 seats on the main floor and 342 in the balcony, plus 168 seats in the Loges. Total: 1502. There are no theatres competing; and the 1940 population of Natick is 13,800.
Back in the 1970s there was a Natick community program called Vision in Action. One of the services offered there were volunteer musical instrument instruction where my older sister tried her hand at guitar and I once or twice tagged along. The location of this program was in the back of the building that the Colonial occupied and they were connected somehow. I remember roaming the corridors and sneaking into the old Colonial. It was dark and dank, but it seemed to even my very young eyes at the time that just a little effort could have transformed this back into the viable little theater that it once was.
My firs home was just on the other side of ST. PATRICK’S ON EAST CENTRAL ST. many times during the late forties and fifties, on remember while was “MOBY DICK” enjoy films at the wonderful theater, later in life had a forty year career in theaters