Arcade Theatre
401 W. Main Street,
Crisfield,
MD
21817
401 W. Main Street,
Crisfield,
MD
21817
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The Arcade Theatre opened in the late-1920’s. It was located in Crisfield which is on the lower Eastern Shore. It was built to replace the Opera House that burned to the ground in 1928.
This old yellow brick theatre served the community until its closing in the mid-1950’s. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1965. The vacant building was still standing in 1990, but had been demolished by 2005.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Here is an account of a fire at the Arcade on 6/19/65:
CRISFIELD â€" A Crisfield landmark was heavily damaged Friday night when fire of unknown origin burned through the balcony and roof of the Arcade Theatre on Main St. “Thank goodness the movie was over and the building vacant when the fire broke out,” said Mrs. Paul Maddrix, wife of one of the owners of the Arcade, “or there might have been panic among the children.” Mrs. Maddrix said the theatre was showing a movie that appealed especially to the younger set, and there were 300 or more young people in the building during the show.
She said the movie, “Beach Party” ended about 9.30 p.m. and the fire broke out about 11:30 p.m. Two business concerns adjoining the theatre, Beverly’s Sweet Shop, and Daniel’s Radio Repair Shop, were extensively damaged from smoke and water. Firemen said the sweet shop had several people in it at the time of the fire but the radio repair business was vacant. There were no injuries reported, either to firemen or patrons in the nearby shop.
There was another fire on 3/31/28 which started in the Arcade and eventually destroyed over twenty buildings, including two theaters and a hotel. Maybe they should get a smoke detector.
The Kilduff’s site listed the Arcade on Main Street, but I think there was only one in Crisfield.
http://www.kilduffs.com/AZA.html
The address is wrong, and this has been demolished for a long time. The correct address was 401-403 W Main. It’s just a vacant lot across from the post office. It was gone sometime before 2014.
The capacity is also wrong. According to the FDY entries, the capacity was 800. I suspect it closed after the 1965 fire, and may have been torn down at any point thereafter.
This building apparently existed in 1990 when the NRHP listing for the Crisfield Historic District was created.
A building was standing on this lot in a 1988 view at Historic Aerials, but is gone in the next view available, which is from 2005.