The Dixie Crystal Theatre (also known as the Clewiston Theater) is a historic site in

Clewiston Clewiston is a city in Hendry County, Florida, United States. Its location is northwest of Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic coastal plain. The population was 7,327 at the 2020 census, up from 7,155 at the 2010 census. The estimated population in 2 ...

, Hendry County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It is located at 100 East Sugarland Highway. It first opened in 1941. In 1998, it was added to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It is a flat-roofed one-story masonry movie theater, built in a simplified Moderne style – one of the few buildings in the area to feature this type of architecture. In 1940, the building was commissioned by Mary Hayes Davis, a newspaper publisher and businesswoman who operated a chain of movie theaters in south Florida and the

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...

region. It was her second theater in Clewiston with that name. Davis had opened the first Dixie Crystal Theatre at the corner of Sugarland Highway and Central Avenue in 1934. The theaters got their name from the local sugar industry product. The architect of the new Dixie Crystal Theatre was Chester A. Cone of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, who also designed the Prince Theatre in Pahokee. The builder and contractor was Earl Anderson. It is in plan. With . The Clewiston Theater was integrated peacefully on July 20, 1964, when five African American youths attended an evening show there for the first time. A Hendry County sheriff's deputy and a Clewiston policeman were present for the duration of the film. The theater closed briefly in 2011, but soon reopened, featuring live bands, first-run movies, and independent films. By early 2015, the Clewiston Theater had closed.

References

External links

Hendry County listings
a
National Register of Historic Places

Clewiston Theater
at

Cinema Treasures Cinema Treasures is a website launched in 2000 in the United States documenting theaters both extant and no longer in existence. It was created by Ross Melnick and Patrick Crowley. Melnick co-authored a book by the same name. The book explores the ...

Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
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Hendry County listings
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Clewiston Theatre
{{National Register of Historic Places in Florida Buildings and structures in Hendry County, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Hendry County, Florida Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Theatres completed in 1941 1941 establishments in Florida Cinemas and movie theaters in Florida

See also

References

External links