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Capitol Theatre

Address: State Rd. Near Main
City: Millington
State: MI
Zip: 48746
County: Tuscola
Open: Early 1900's
Capacity: 356
Owner History:
Number of visits to this page: 2717
Notes:

This theater was originally a Methodist Church. It was sold to the Macabee's Club who used it as a hall. They sold it yet again and it was operated as an opera hall and finally a theater later on. It was remodeled by Johnson Construction in 1939/40. It operated through the 1940's but closed sometime thereafter. The building was demolished in 1960. The Millington-Arbela Historical Society still has some artifacts from the theater.
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Info Updates:
3/8/2021 - Andy Gray
The Capitol Theatre on State Road in Millington, was one of at least six theaters with that name in Michigan. My grandfather's Johnson Construction Company remodeled the Capitol in 1939 or 1940. For our family, the most notable aspect of the Capitol Theatre project is that it was where our mom first met her future husband. Dad was working on the theater when Al Johnson took our fifteen-year-old mom and her younger sister with him on a jobsite visit. The rest, you could say, is "Michigan history." Al Johnson's November 1948 color slide shows that an addition, most likely the lobby and concession area, has been built onto the front of the older wood-framed structure. It's not known what additional interior work might have been done to the opera hall/theater at that time.
8/16/2011 - Clayton E. Betzing
Actually the building started out before the turn of century as a Macabee's Hall, then a Opera Hall, and then a Theater. It was torn down in 1960. Millington - Arbela Historical Society Museum has some of the old theater seats in the museum as well as old pictures. It is located on M-15 open on Fridays and Saturdays 12 to 2 pm or call me for a tour. C. Betzing 871-9956.
7/7/2006 - WaterWinterWonderland
This old post card would date the theatre as being built sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s.
 Photos:6
Capitol Theatre - COURTESY AL JOHNSON
COURTESY AL JOHNSON
Capitol Theatre - OLD POST CARD
OLD POST CARD
Capitol Theatre - CLOSE UP
CLOSE UP
Capitol Theatre - FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Capitol Theatre - FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Capitol Theatre - FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
FROM MILLINGTON-ARBELA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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