Theaters of the Last Century
Note: This exhibit is CLOSED. For reference only.

 Explore the evolution of the urban movie theater at the Delaware History Center in a new exhibit Wilmington Goes to the Movies, on display from April 8 through June 9, 2000 in the Willingtown Square Gallery. The exhibit explores each stage in the development of Wilmington movie theaters, from the first performing arts theaters that showed movies as a novelty in the late 1800s, to the palatial movie houses built in the 1920s-30s, and the shift to corporate ownership and utilitarian styles in the 1940s-50s.

The exhibit includes more than 30 photographs of local theaters such as The Strand at 24th & Market streets in the 1921, The Warner at West 10th Street in 1939, and The Arcadia at 5th & Market streets in 1953. More than 50 programs, newspaper advertisements and articles help convey the atmosphere in Wilmington movie theaters when a night at the movies meant more than putting on a pair of dungarees to go to the suburban multiplex.

At its highpoint, there were more than 15,000 movie theater seats in Wilmington. Four world premiers were held in Wilmington including Twentieth Century Fox's "Sodom & Gomorrah" (1963), and Warner Brothers' "Always in My Heart" (I 942). Wilmington was among select cities to show "Gone With the Wind" in 1940. It ran as a limited engagement for two weeks at the Loew's at Delaware Avenue and Adams Street.

One of the first and biggest African-American theaters in Wilmington is highlighted in the exhibit. Dr. Samuel G. Elbert, one of the state's first licensed black physicians, erected the National at 8th & French streets in 1915. Dr. Elbert had the theater designed with meeting rooms and an auditorium so that the building could be used as a community center as well as a movie theater. Documents in the exhibit include newspaper advertisements and a telling article that announced the theater opening.

The opulent Queen Theatre opened at 500 Market Street in 1916. Its auditorium and balcony seated 2,000 people and was designed to offer a completely unobstructed view of the screen and stage. The lobby walls were decorated in Alaskan marble, the only such use of that material in the country. Above the large stage was a mural representing "Science" and on either side of the walls above the balcony were six different paintings representing themes such as "Music," "Sculpture," and "Beauty." A Japanese garden formed the backdrop for the stage. Photographs, programs and advertisements in the exhibit bring the Queen back to life.

Suburbanization and mass marketing of the home television in the 1950s contributed to the decline of the urban movie theater. In the early 1980s the last movie theater in Wilmington closed its doors.

Wilmington Goes to the Movies will be displayed from April 8 through June 9 in the Willingtown Square Gallery at the Delaware History Center. The History Center campus dominates the 500 block of Market Street in downtown Wilmington, and is comprised of the Delaware History Museum, Old Town Hall, Willingtown Square historic park, and the Historical Society of Delaware's Research Library.

The Willingtown Square Gallery at the Delaware History Center is open 1-9 p.m Monday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and 10 arms to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free Monday-Friday. Admission on Saturday is $4 adults. $3 seniors/students. $2 ages 2- 17, free younger than 2. For more information, call (302) 655-7161.