Groundsite Image Gallery
Patee Theater
Artist: Hughes, Langston
Height: 0.000"
Width: 0.000"
Patee Theater, 828 Massachusetts St., about 1913.
This vintage photo from a 1913 memorial album shows the Patee Theater, soon after it opened.
Vivian and her husband Clair Patee were press representatives for national touring performers. At the advent of moving pictures, the Patees started the first movie theater in New Jersey.
Mrs. Patee returned to Lawrence, where she had lived as a child, to care for her stepfather, H.A. Allen. While here, she built this theater. She was born Elizabeth McFarland, and her tombstone in Oak Hill Cemetery includes the portrait that was once on the front of the theatre.
Other movie theatres in Lawrence when Hughes was a boy were, according to the 1913-1914 city directory, Airdome (834 New Hampshire St.), Bowersock (648 Massachusetts St.), Grand (736 Massachusetts St.), Nickle (708 Massachusetts St.), Oread (907 Massachusetts St.) and Palace (633 Massachusetts St.).