Palace Theater (Crossville, Tennessee) facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids
Palace Theater
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location in Tennessee Show map of Tennessee Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	210 N. Main St., Crossville, Tennessee
Area	less than one acre
Architect	Eston Smith; William Garrison
Architectural style	Art Deco, Moderne
NRHP reference No.	93001477
Added to NRHP	January 7, 1994

The Palace Theater is a cool old movie theater located at 210 N. Main Street in Crossville, Tennessee. It was built a long time ago, in the 1930s, and has a lot of history!

Its Cool Style

The Palace Theater looks really special because it was built in two popular styles from the past: Art Deco and Moderne.

What Makes It Special?

• The outside of the building is covered with a type of rock called Crab Orchard stone. This stone is arranged in cool patterns that were popular in the Art Deco style.
• Inside, you would have seen bright neon lights on the big sign outside, called a marquee. There were also round "bulls-eye" lights on the walls. These were all very stylish back then!
• The main room where people watched movies, called the auditorium, could hold about 600 people. That's a lot of movie fans!

A Look Back in Time

The Palace Theater first opened its doors in November 1938. The very first movie shown there was If I Were King, starring an actor named Ronald Colman.

Theater's Journey

• For many years, the Palace Theater was a popular place to see the newest movies. It stayed open as a top movie theater until the 1970s.
• However, in 1978, a new movie theater with two screens opened in Crossville. Because of this, the Palace Theater closed down.
• The building was empty for a long time, and it started to get old and worn out.

Saving the Theater

• In 1987, the Palace Theater was featured in a book called Great American Movie Theaters. This book was written by a historian named David Naylor.
• After the book came out, people in Crossville decided they wanted to save their historic theater. They started a campaign to preserve it.
• In 1993, the city of Crossville bought the building.
• The next year, in 1994, the theater building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is a special list of important historical places in the United States.
• With help from public money, the theater was fixed up and made new again!
• Today, the Palace Theater is no longer just a movie theater. It's a community center where people can gather for all sorts of events.