Still listed as the Crystal in the 1914-15 AMPD, which lists it a second time as Yale’s Crystal. Demolished around 1928-29 for the construction of the Law Building, an 8 story structure itself demolished sometime after 1950 to become one of the numerous surface lots that blight the much-diminished downtown.
The last paragraph is inaccurate. There never was an 8-story garage here. The 1950 map shows the two story section (the old dance hall) to the side still extant, and the theater space a surface lot. There is no basement to be seen, and the bank wasn’t built until maybe 1970 judging from the ugly design.
SethG
commented about
Oct 1950on
Oct 3, 2025 at 3:43 pm
Shame that the cover photo was made with a potato. Sometime between 2008 and 2011 the original entry doors were replaced with cruddy aluminum doors. Sometime after early 2022 the letters on the vertical were covered in cruddy white plastic. Probably doesn’t look nearly so nice at night now. By the way, the old website is now gambling spam. This is correct: https://www.dellstheatre.com/
The 1905 Cahn guide gives a capacity of 600, which makes much more sense given the size of the building. The address was originally on Pearl St, but the name was changed at some point after 1915.
This was apparently known as the Bridgewater for the first year of its existence. Early Yearbook entries give a capacity of 250, which must have been reduced.
I think the name chronology is wrong. The ‘Ellis’ sign is clearly very old, and this is one of several Ellis theaters in Mississippi. It must have been called Ellis before it closed as a cinema.
The address supplied was bogus. There is no Main St. 204 N Main Ave is a grocery store, which is pretty old. The map has ended up in Dolton, down the road. I think this has been demolished, wherever it was. In the streetview from 2011 there’s nothing that looks like a theater.
SethG
commented about
Theateron
Sep 11, 2025 at 12:55 am
I doubt it. 400 seems like far too many people to fit in a small space like this. I suspect the Grand was an old opera house on Farmer west of Main. That still existed in 1984, but was lost to the shriveling up of downtown since.
It’s confused an awning behind the vertical as part of the sign, and it’s garbled the Red Owl lettering, but it’s fascinating to see what can be done. Pretty soon nothing will be true or provable!
I can’t understand why the Ruby is not on the 1921 map. Maybe it hadn’t opened by the time the 1914 map was issued, but it was clearly operating during that range.
Please move the old photo of the original Wonderland to the listing I have created for it.
This lot was occupied by a three-story building in 1896, so it’s likely that the theater building had only recently been constructed in 1907.
There was an earlier Princess on Grand, likely unrelated.
Still listed as the Crystal in the 1914-15 AMPD, which lists it a second time as Yale’s Crystal. Demolished around 1928-29 for the construction of the Law Building, an 8 story structure itself demolished sometime after 1950 to become one of the numerous surface lots that blight the much-diminished downtown.
The last paragraph is inaccurate. There never was an 8-story garage here. The 1950 map shows the two story section (the old dance hall) to the side still extant, and the theater space a surface lot. There is no basement to be seen, and the bank wasn’t built until maybe 1970 judging from the ugly design.
Wrong theater.
The Sanborn maps say that this theater was built in 1912. They also give the height of the tower as 135 feet.
This is in the wrong listing. This theater was one block west of the 1932 Wonderland, and was never called the Esquire.
There’s an old photo of the Wonderland that is in the wrong listing. It’s very confusing.
Seems 1914 is probably a good date. My pictures from Labor Day 2014 show the theater celebrating 100 years.
Built sometime between 1911 and 1917, likely after 1914-15, as Flandreau does not appear in the AMPD.
Shame that the cover photo was made with a potato. Sometime between 2008 and 2011 the original entry doors were replaced with cruddy aluminum doors. Sometime after early 2022 the letters on the vertical were covered in cruddy white plastic. Probably doesn’t look nearly so nice at night now. By the way, the old website is now gambling spam. This is correct: https://www.dellstheatre.com/
The 1905 Cahn guide gives a capacity of 600, which makes much more sense given the size of the building. The address was originally on Pearl St, but the name was changed at some point after 1915.
Appears to still be open, although downtown is a disaster, and most of the buildings on this block are now gone. The website is dead.
This was apparently known as the Bridgewater for the first year of its existence. Early Yearbook entries give a capacity of 250, which must have been reduced.
I’ve added a map view. The address is a wild guess based on the one address I could find on that block.
I have added a photo of what I believe to have been the community hall. Information to confirm/refute my theory is welcome.
I think the name chronology is wrong. The ‘Ellis’ sign is clearly very old, and this is one of several Ellis theaters in Mississippi. It must have been called Ellis before it closed as a cinema.
The address supplied was bogus. There is no Main St. 204 N Main Ave is a grocery store, which is pretty old. The map has ended up in Dolton, down the road. I think this has been demolished, wherever it was. In the streetview from 2011 there’s nothing that looks like a theater.
I doubt it. 400 seems like far too many people to fit in a small space like this. I suspect the Grand was an old opera house on Farmer west of Main. That still existed in 1984, but was lost to the shriveling up of downtown since.
It’s confused an awning behind the vertical as part of the sign, and it’s garbled the Red Owl lettering, but it’s fascinating to see what can be done. Pretty soon nothing will be true or provable!
From old pictures of downtown, I think the thing to the left is a two story stone bank that was in the middle of the block on the north side.
Demolished long ago. Downtown is really wretched. Looks like this was probably somewhere on the north side of Main, and almost certainly on W Main.
I can’t understand why the Ruby is not on the 1921 map. Maybe it hadn’t opened by the time the 1914 map was issued, but it was clearly operating during that range.
The 1914-15 AMPD lists an M.P., and the Ruby. The Ruby was still open in 1926. I cannot find it on either the 1914 or 1921 maps.