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Then and Now: Orpheum Theater and Ryan Block in Gardner
Two entrepreneurial brothers and a iconic local movie house left their mark on downtown
Mike Richard
Special for The Gardner News
The three-sided marquee was easily one of downtown Gardner’s most familiar landmarks, promoting the double-feature films at the beloved Orpheum Theater.
How many Saturdays around noontime did you get into the line that would snake down Parker Street, around the bend at Liggett’s Drug Store, to the corner of Pleasant Street and beyond for the afternoon matinee?
Originally known as the Murray Block, the Orpheum Theater first opened in the building at 32-40 Parker St. on May 29, 1913, by the Trimount Theatre Co. and was called “the last word on model construction of a motion picture house.”