The Middletown Memorial & Town Hall - Middletown, MD
N 39° 26.625 W 077° 32.700
18S E 280993 N 4369113
Once upon a time, along the National Road in the early 20s, this was the place to watch a movie or live show. Today, it appears vacant, but with a quick glance it isn't hard to recognize it for what it once was...a beautiful, period theater.
Waymark Code: WMDGR8
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2012
Views: 5
When I visited this town on the way to Antietam Battlefield, I immediately began to look for the town theater. Mostly every early 19th century still intact along this historic road still has their original theater present in some fashion, either original or converted. This theater is unique in that it served two purposes not just being a theater. It was built in the heyday of the 'vintage theater', that being 1923. The Middletown Memorial and Town Hall is a wonderful historic building and a contributing structure to the historic district.
Architecturally speaking, the building reminds me of an Art Deco deal, but I cannot find the narrative for this building, so that will temporarily remain a mystery. The theater is made of brick with a really neat frieze on top with all sorts of detail and decoration. I spied a pari of cornucopias, a harp in the enter, lots of trim and decorative 'waves' and the letter M in relief beneath all of this. There are also colorful blue and tan tiles along the front middle of the building as well which is what made me think it is an Art Deco building.
This building was built as a Community center and theater in 1923. It was built as a Memorial to local servicemen who served in World War 1. It was designed by Edward Leber, an Architect from York, PA. There were several offices and meeting rooms in the building on both floors, and the theater was on the first floor. This building held local plays, musicals, and concerts and was the heart of the community. Eventually it became the local volunteer fire department building. It was occupied by them till the mid 1970's when the fire dept. got their own building on Rt 17. It is now privately owned. SOURCE
In a stroke of unbelievable luck, I found the original 1922 advertisement for the awarded contract for this building in a scanned copy of The American Contractor, Volume 42, a journal published weekly every Saturday. A copy of the scan is below but basically it says the Builiding (memorial) & Town Hall was awarded to Edward Leber for a cost of $50,000. It would be 2-story and 56 X 135 (presumably feet). Next to Leber'e name is the Hay Building, presumably another building he designed? The owner of the building was stated as: Citizens' Comm., care Dr. R. V. Hauver, chrm. The contractor for this project was Roy W. Poole, Rosemont Avenue, Frederick, MD. The listing ends with Excav. SOURCE (November 19, 1921; Page 71).
