New Queen Theatre

The Queen Theatre was built by Harry Morstein and Edward T. Bates and opened in 1909 by James L. Whittle as the first movie theatre catering to Baltimore’s large African-American population. The house also presented vaudeville, and in the 1910’s was advertising itself as “a refined place for refined people entertaining as many whites as colored”.

It was renamed New Queen Theatre in March 1916, operated by Harry Morstein and closed in 1933. (Not to be confused with the New Queen Theatre former Aladdin Theatre, which was also operated by Harry Morstein and has its own page on Cinema Treasures as the Booker T. Theatre).

The Queen Theatre building went through a long decline, and was eventually demolished and a factory was built on the site.

Today its site is part of the campus of a large medical center, though across Lexington Street there survives a long row of handsome terrace houses from the theatre’s era, giving a clue to what this neighborhood must have looked like during the Queen Theatre’s heyday.

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