{"nrhp_refnum":"00000226","name":"Colonial Theater","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"55-57 Park St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Canton","county":"Haywood County","state":"NC","lat":35.53237362300007,"lon":-82.83983553399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-03-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story brick movie theater at 55-57 Park Street in downtown Canton, Haywood County, North Carolina, built in 1932 and designed in the Colonial Revival style by Benton & Benton, with Marion C. Sprinkle as builder.","why_significant":"The theater was the first building in Canton constructed specifically as a modern motion picture house and was a central focus of the town's social life through the 1960s. It is a rare use of the Colonial Revival style for a theater, when most theaters of the period in the state were Art Deco. It remains highly intact inside and out.","narrative":"Opened on June 6, 1932, this brick movie theater on Park Street in downtown Canton was the first building in the town designed specifically for modern motion pictures. Benton & Benton of Wilson, North Carolina, designed it, and local businessman Marion C. Sprinkle built it. The front section was styled to resemble a residential building, with a slate side-gable roof, pedimented dormers and six-over-six windows, while the auditorium behind is plain commercial brick. Inside, about 650 seats, stucco walls, a balcony, a second-floor lounge and a projection room survive largely original. The theater is notable as a rare Colonial Revival movie house in a state where most were Art Deco. It also served as a social center for a mill town grown up around the Champion paper plant, hosting movies, vaudeville and country music shows, bank nights and Screeno games. Seating was segregated, with a separate entrance and balcony section for Black patrons.","period_of_significance":"1932-1949","architect_builder":"Benton & Benton (architects, Wilson, N.C.); Marion C. Sprinkle (builder)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function listed as work in progress (theater); interior and exterior described as highly intact, with some 1960s storefront and ticket booth changes.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.128666-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7207/47720790/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/00000226.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000226/355a74c135-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000226/355a74c135-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"AbeEzekowitz","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Theater_-_Canton_NC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeEzekowitz</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Theater_-_Canton_NC.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05000958","name":"Canton Main Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/canton-main-street-historic-district-05000958/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720790","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Theater_(Canton,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5148388"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/haywood-county/colonial-theater-00000226/"}