The Mt Wolf Theatre
The Mt Wolf Theatre
98 South 6th Street
Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania
I took these photos in 2012, but they were part of a trove that were lost in a hard-drive crash until I was recently able to recover a viable back-up.
The Mt Wolf is the only theater that I’ve visited in Streamline Moderne style. I have several more on my to-do list but I doubt that I will find any that others that are in such pristine shape!
According to several resources, (linked below) the theater opened in the late 1940s and closed in 1984. The last movie screened there was E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (which was released in 1982). In 1985 it was transformed in to the St Thomas Independent Lutheran Church and later the Mount Wolf Gospel Arts Dinner Theatre. It is presently the the Mount Wolf Community Church.
The thing that I find odd about this theater is its location is that, with the exception of the Mt Wolf Elementary School, this is an all-residential area. I don’t think that I’ve ever encountered a vintage theater that wasn’t along a main street. If any reader out there knows the answer to the mystery … do chime in. Perhaps, at one time, the layout of the town was very different?
Bruiser the Cruiser poses in front of the gorgeous Mt Wolf facade.
My apologies for taking so long to post this. Anthony Jordan was kind enough to share some internal pictures of the theater with me all the way back in 2013! I’m so glad that he did. Here they are … and thank you so much, Anthony!
A few of the original theater seats.
One last external shot.
Links of Interest
– The Mt Wolf on Cinema Treasures
– Jim McClure’s York Town Square article
– Another Jim McClure article on the York Daily Record site
Really nice pictures and way to document a treasure. Also, great job as always posing Bruiser. My mind is a little hazy, but there’s a central PA small town — it’ll come to me — I was in a few years back that has a movie theater that has been converted into a church and it’s tucked right alongside the houses.
I guess among “houses” was the wrong way to describe it. The odd part is that they are detached single family houses with yards etc.
The outside design is fabulous!
Decades ago, I lived in a little town nearby called Saginaw, and I remember going to Mt. Wolf Theater to watch actual movies. They weren’t first run, of course, but it was an inexpensive entertainment just the same. I remember seeing West Side Story, King Kong vs. Godzilla, The Triffids, Heidi (don’t ask), among others I can’t remember now. Used to be near Barton’s Bakery and across from the elementary school. Haven’t been in the area in over 40 years, so I have no idea what it’s like now.
Thanks for commenting , Joe! The elementary school is still there .
I’m not from the area; but I’ve heard and/or read others talking about Barton’s … it must have been popular 🙂