Welcome to CinemaTour!  Sign In

CinemaTour
 
Cinema History Around the World  
 HOME ·· CINEMAS ·· LINKS ·· BOOKS
 Contact Cinematour ·· Help & Hints ·· About Cinematour
 

Liberty Theater


2002 Photo from the Ray Brown collection.
344 E Main St
Dayton WA 99328
(509) 382-1380

Visit Website
Record #21445  
 Opened: 1921
Capacity: 147 seats
Architect(s):
Architectural Style(s):
National Register:
Current Organ: none
 Also Known As: Dreamland
 Previously operated by: Midstate Amusement Corporation, Alliance Amusement Company

Information for this tour was contributed by Ray Brown.

Located at its present day spot, the Dreamland Theater opened in 1910. In 1917, the Dreamland changed its name to the Liberty. Fire burned the building in 1919 and the theater reopened in 1921. During the 1930s, the Liberty brought "talkies" to Dayton. Different managers ran the Liberty until it closed its doors during the late 1960s and, finally, in the early 1970s. For almost 30 years the building was mainly unused except for storage or the occasional Halloween haunted house.

During the 1980s, while people were talking about the revitalization of downtown Dayton, dreams of restoring the Liberty Theater were put onto many peoples wish lists. Finally, in 1994, a group of citizens under the title Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) approached the owner of the building, the law firm of Nealey and Marinella, about restoring the building. Under one condition, Terry Nealey and Scott Marinella told the group they could have the building minus the balcony area, which would be used as office space for the law offices. That condition was that the leaky roof be repaired first. Through local donations and hundreds of volunteer hours by community members, the roof was repaired. Nealey and Marinella followed through with their promise plus they added the use of the balcony. TVAC now began the journey of the restoration of the Liberty Theater. Over the next seven years, TVAC and other community members raised money and were awarded different grants that allowed the Liberty Theater to open its doors with the live performance of The Music Man in November of 2001.

 Photos
 Photos remain the property of the Member and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Member.

Photos from the Ray Brown collection.


39 KB · 350x318
The marquee is a rep...

25 KB · 400x266
Each month, a local ...

36 KB · 450x297
View from the balcon...

33 KB · 450x299
View looking back to...

31 KB · 450x299
Closeup of the stenc...

29 KB · 308x400
The projection equip...

36 KB · 306x450
The sound rack featu...


 External Links

---
---

Return to the top of this page   or   Return to the main page


Last featured 1/23/2005. Last edited 6/18/2023.


The content of this website is a research work in progress and is being provided to the public for informational purposes only. As such, articles may contain errors, bias, duplication, or need to be cleaned up. Some documents, images and logos contained in these documents belong to various organizations and corporations. Their inclusion here is for the benefit of the reader and for the benefit of the particular organization, but they are, in fact, the copyrighted property of those organizations. Their presence here does not imply any endorsement of CinemaTour by those organizations. CinemaTour is not affiliated with any cinema or circuit.

© 1995-2024 Vision Entertainment Services. All rights reserved.
Use of this site signifies agreement to terms of service.

www.cinematour.com :: 0.62 MB :: 6.38 MB