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Mar-Va Theater | |
Location | 103 Market St., Pocomoke City, Maryland |
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Coordinates | 38°4′33″N75°34′9″W / 38.07583°N 75.56917°W |
Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
Built | 1927 |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
NRHP reference No. | 96000301 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 21, 1996 |
The Mar-Va Theater is a historic theater located in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland. It was constructed in 1927 and is a two-story, three-bay building of brick laid in stretcher bond. The interior reflects an extensive Art Deco style redecoration carried out in 1937 including narrow silver columns on either side of the stage and embellishments on the side walls. [2] It is currently operated as a performing arts center.
One of the few remaining links to Pocomoke's past is the Mar-Va Theater. Its name is representative of its location, since the theater is located in Maryland, only a short distance from the Virginia state line. With originally 720 seats, the Mar-Va is the largest theater south of Wilmington, Delaware, which has never been altered. Once used as a vaudeville theater complete with stage facilities, dressing rooms and orchestra pits, the Mar-Va was played by many performers, which included some old-time cowboys such as Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, William Boyd and Smiley Burnette.
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barlett of Berlin, Maryland built the Mar-Va Theater in 1927. It has been estimated that it would probably cost around $250,000 to build by present economic standards.[ when? ]
The Mar-Va Theater is one of the few theaters on the shore to boast of a draw drape. The sidewalls have the original gold embossed paneling and the projectors, which were added around 1943, are of the carbon arc variety. The balcony was once used for segregation purposes. It had its own entrance, concession area, box office and bathroom. The seats in the balcony were considered the best in the theater.
The theater opened on December 1, 1927 with John & Lester Fox managing the theater while J. Dawson Clarke played the piano for the old silent movies. In 1949, after the death of John Fox, J. Dawson Clarke and Orville Mason bought the theater and, in 1967, the ownership went to Dawson and his wife Hattie.
When the theater originally opened, ticket prices were 10 cents. At the time of its closing in 1993, a ticket cost $3.50. Soda pop, sold in the soda parlor next door, once cost 10 cents and popcorn was always sold for 10 cents a bag.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. [1]
Worcester County is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,460. Its county seat is Snow Hill. The county is part of the Lower Eastern Shore region of the state.
Pocomoke City, dubbed "the friendliest town on the Eastern Shore", is a city in Worcester County, Maryland, United States. Although renamed in a burst of civic enthusiasm in 1878, the city is regularly referred to by its inhabitants simply as Pocomoke. The population was 4,295 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pocomoke City is a center for commerce on the lower shore, home to an industrial park currently playing host to defense contractors, aerospace engineering, and plastics fabrication. Pocomoke City is located near the Wallops Island Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
U.S. Route 113 (US 113) is a U.S. Highway that is a spur of US 13 in the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware. The route runs 74.75 miles (120.30 km) from US 13 in Pocomoke City, Maryland, north to Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) in Milford, Delaware. In conjunction with DE 1, US 113 is one of two major north–south highways on the Delmarva Peninsula that connect Dover with Pocomoke City and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The U.S. Highway is the primary north–south highway in Worcester County, Maryland, where it connects Pocomoke City with Snow Hill and Berlin. US 113 is one of three major north–south highways in Sussex County, Delaware, where it connects Selbyville, Millsboro, and Georgetown with Milford. While US 113 does not pass through Ocean City or the Delaware Beaches, the U.S. Highway intersects several highways that serve the Atlantic seaboard resorts, including US 50, Maryland Route 90 (MD 90), US 9, DE 404, DE 16, and DE 1. US 113 is a four-lane divided highway for its whole length.
The Fox Theatre is a performing arts center located at 2211 Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, near the Grand Circus Park Historic District. Opened in 1928 as a flagship movie palace in the Fox Theatres chain, it was at over 5,000 seats the largest theater in the city. Designed by theater architect C. Howard Crane, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple are owned by The Walt Disney Company and serve as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios' film premieres.
The Byrd Theatre is a cinema in the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was named after William Byrd II, the founder of the city. The theater opened on December 24, 1928 to much excitement and is affectionately referred to as "Richmond’s Movie Palace". Though equipped with a Wurlitzer pipe organ, the theatre was also one of the first of its kind to be originally outfitted for sound motion pictures.
The Ritz Theatre is a theater located in Haddon Township, New Jersey. The venue is owned and operated by The Ritz Theatre Company, a nonprofit organization. The theater was added to the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington is a 1931 Art Deco movie theater that now serves as a performing arts venue and home of the Spokane Symphony. It was designed by architect Robert C. Reamer, notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. It was part of the Fox Film Corporation Empire founded by studio mogul William Fox. The theater opened September 3, 1931, and showed films continuously until it closed September 21, 2000, after an engagement of the movie Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.
The Chateau Theatre originally opened as a vaudeville house in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1927 with an interior decorated as a medieval village. The theater was converted to a movie house eventually remodeled and reopened as a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Saenger Theatre is an atmospheric theatre in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Once the flagship of Julian and Abe Saenger's theatre empire, today it is one of only a handful of Saenger movie palaces that remain.
The Fox Tucson Theatre is located in downtown Tucson, Arizona, United States. The theater opened on April 11, 1930 as a performance space in downtown Tucson. It hosts a wide spectrum of events and concerts featuring a variety of performing talent, ranging from ballets, to jazz, contemporary pop, world music and rock acts.
The Costen House is a historic U.S. home located at 206 Market Street, Pocomoke City, Maryland, United States. Dr. Isaac Thomas Costen built the house c. 1870s and members of his family lived there for over a century. Dr. Costen became the first Mayor of Pocomoke City. The house currently serves as The Isaac Costen House Museum.
Beverly is a historic home located in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, Georgian-style Flemish bond brick house built about 1770. The house faces the Pocomoke River. An original circular ice house survives on the property.
The Littleton T. Clarke House is a historic home located at Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. It is a 2+1⁄2-story Second Empire–style frame house with a concave curved mansard roof constructed about 1860.
Crockett House is a historic home located at Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. The house is a two-story center passage plan frame dwelling, constructed about 1850, that reflects the influence of the Greek Revival style. Attached is a stepped "telescope" service wing.
The Young-Sartorius House is a historic home located at Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, center-passage / single-pile frame dwelling built in two stages between about 1860 and about 1900.
The Pocomoke City Historic District is a national historic district in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland. The historic district includes the central business district (CBD) and surrounding residential area of Pocomoke City. The CBD is defined by an important collection of late-19th century and early-20th century commercial and public architecture. It includes a significant array of Victorian, Colonial Revival, and Beaux-Arts influenced structures. The majority of the housing dates from 1870 to 1940. It is an example of a type of prosperous river town that characterized the region during the period, which retains an exceptional collection of 19th and 20th century building forms.
The Oriental Theatre was a movie theater located at 828 SE Grand Street in the East Portland commercial district of Portland, Oregon that was built in 1927. The Oriental was a 2,038-seat movie palace designed by Lee Arden Thomas and Albert Mercier. The building's exterior was in the Italian Renaissance style. The interior had an "almost surreal appearance" created by interior designer Adrien Voisin. It was built by George Warren Weatherly. Demolished in 1970, the theater was adjacent to the Weatherly Building, which remains standing.
The Brauntex Theatre is a former movie palace located in downtown New Braunfels in the U.S. state of Texas. It was built in the late Art Deco period in 1942. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic railroad, nicknamed Black Cinders & Ashes, ran from Claiborne, Maryland, to Ocean City, Maryland. It was chartered as the Baltimore and Eastern Shore Railroad in 1886 and began operation in 1890, at which time it purchased the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad Company, merging it into its own operations. Over the following 100 years, it struggled to remain profitable, changed names and ownership several times and abandoned most of its rail line. The only portion that remains in service today is the 3.65-mile long Willards Industrial Track, the 0.65-mile Mardela Industrial Track and the 0.6-mile Mill Street Industrial Track - all in Salisbury, Maryland - operated by Delmarva Central Railroad on track owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad. Track, bridges and right-of-way remain across Delmarva and at least one portion has been turned into a rail trail.