April 29th National Register of Historic Places- The Saluda Theater- Saluda SC.

Remembered this was here on my way to the Saluda Post office-  A quick turn from the intersection of 378 and 178 to downtown.... I used to teach that the movies became a major social impact vehicle in the 20's and 30's in the US-  This one was interesting in that it opened in 1936- at the height of the depression.  

The Saluda Theater
107 Law Range • Saluda, SC

As dusk falls on Main Street, the Saluda Theater glows like a jewel in the night beckoning the community to come together for entertainment and enlightenment. Once again it is a focal point in Saluda County as it was from the day it opened in 1936 with a Loretta Young movie until that day in 1981 when the last reel wound to a stop and the screen went dark.  Designed by Charles B. Thompson, the Saluda Theatre is a two-story, stuccoed masonry building constructed in 1936 as a cinema. The Saluda is significant as an unusually intact example of a small town theatre in the Art Deco style and for its role as a focal point for entertainment in the community during the 1930s and 1940s. The theatre reflects a period of motion picture theatre construction that swept the country in the 1920s and 1930s. Like most other movie theatres constructed during the second decade of the period, the building was influenced by the Art Deco style. The crisp, simple lines of the façade and the geometric designs of the interior wall finishes and lighting fixtures reveal the influence of the Art Deco style. The theatre is prominently sited in downtown Saluda across the street from the courthouse square. It was open for forty-five years, closing in 1981. Listed in the National Register December 13, 1993.