Hagerstown Society, Culture and Life

The Maryland Theatre

By Erin Allenczy

HIS 202, Spring 2022

The five-story Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown was built in 1915 at a cost of $200,000. With a strong neoclassical style and some art deco elements added later, it is one of the few twentieth-century neoclassical theaters in Maryland today. On opening day on May 10^th, 1915, they treated their first audience to a live orchestra and a five-reel feature film called The Commuters. It transitioned to a movie theater in the 1920s, has been re-modeled, and today has many events and live entertainment at the theatre.

In June of 1928 the Maryland Theatre showed "talking pictures" soon after syncronized sound was added to films in 1927, and Hagerstown residents were able to watch The Jazz Singer.  According to the Maryland Theater, on a single weekend up to 1,100 people would attend a movie screening and up to 700 on a weeknight, both at price of just 40 cents a ticket.

Movie-going became a popular form of entertainment by World War I and a growth of large cinema palaces came with it. Many theaters were adorned with ornate lobbies, comfortable chairs typically in red, and a large curtain concealing the screen (also typically in red); The Maryland Theatre also contained these stylistic elements. During its heyday of moviegoing the Warner Brothers owned The Maryland Theatre along with The Academy and The Colonial in Hagerstown. The theatre eventually closed due to lack of business in November 1973, and a few months afterward the front portion was destroyed by a fire.

Fortunately, the fire did not touch the historic auditorium, although it did put the theater in danger of being sold to a local contractor for its 1,000,000 bricks. Purchased by a local funeral director just one month before the contractor would claim it, the theater reopened in 1978 led by efforts of a local businessman named Jack Garrot. Garrot and community members, called “Citizens to Save the Maryland Theatre” rallied to gather supplies and services, as well as fundraised for monetary gifts, all to help reopen the theatre, rebuild a new front lobby, and restore the theatre to its former glory. During their efforts, the theater was submitted to be a part of the National Register of Historic Places and was finalized on November 13, 1976. It is an independent non-profit historical building to this day and supported by ticket sales and venue rentals.

Since the 1970s renovation, there have been other improvements such as restored seating and flooring, an upgraded HVAC system, refurbished plaster, an improved fire protection system, dressing room remodels, a modernized rigging system, and refitted curtains (The Maryland Theatre). Most recently, in 2019 the construction of a five-level performing arts center was completed (The Maryland Theatre). The center contained a new box office, new bathrooms, more space for concessions, and a space for private events such as a ballroom, a conference room, and a cocktail lounge (The Maryland Theatre). The most important aspect of the theater is its location in downtown Hagerstown.

The theater’s position has turned the area around it into the Arts and Entertainment district in the city. It is the anchor of the district with shops and businesses flourishing around it. Their main mission since their restoration in the 1970s and now is the same. As stated on The Maryland Theatre website their mission is to “…preserve, restore, and maintain The Maryland Theatre as a historic property and to provide quality entertainment, educational and cultural offerings to the community at large”. The theatre is an important piece of history in Hagerstown and in Washington County as a building that housed moviegoers in the 1920s to a place of arts and events for all the city and state to come and enjoy.