History
Boulder Theater opened in 1906 as the Curran Opera House. The opening night was October 2, 1906, presenting a play by William Collier Sr. entitled "On the Quiet". Initially, James A. Curran served as the president of the opera house, with R. P. Penney as Vice President and Manager. [1]
Later, the theater presented ballet, church festivals, orchestral concerts, and early silent films. There also were children's shows.
In 1920, vice-presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke at Boulder Theater. In 1929, the theater showed its first talkie film, Mother Knows Best. [2]
In 1936, the Curran became a movie theater, renamed the Boulder Theater. The architecture was art-deco, and was inspired by the Boulder courthouse quite near.
In the 1980s the competition from Crossroads Mall was too much competition, so Boulder Theater turned into a night club, changing ownership several times. The building was threatened with being torn down. Historic Boulder brokered a deal to make building safe and make it a local landmark.
Boulder Theater survived the COVID-19 shutdown, and still hosts acts. [3] [4]
