Rowland Theater

About this property

The Rowland Theater (alternately spelled Theatre), located at 127 North Front Street, Philipsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States, is an historic single screen movie theater, built in 1916 by Charles Hedding Rowland. The theater is owned by the borough of Phillipsburg. The site of the Rowland Theatre building was previously occupied by the Pierce Opera House. Owned by Philipsburg businessman J.H. Pierce and built sometime before 1889, this three-story building was destroyed by fire, along with several other downtown buildings, on December 30, 1910. Then the Rowland family purchased the Opera House property on December 31, 1915, and immediately began making plans for the construction of a building that could house live theatrical performances as well as conventions and public meetings. The theatre is currently owned by Philipsburg Borough and leased to Rowland Theatre, Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is located in the Philipsburg Historic District. U.S. Congressman Charles Hedding Rowland, born December 20, 1860, was one of several enterprising businessmen who engaged in coal mining operations in the Philipsburg Area. He was president of both the Moshannon Coal Mining Company and the Pittsburg and Susquehanna Railroad Companies during the late 19th century. He was later elected as a representative of the Republican Party to the 64th and 65th Congress. His terms of office as a U.S. Congressman began in March, 1915, and ended in March, 1919. He declined a re-nomination in 1918, serving out his remaining term before retiring. Construction then was carried out under the direction of architect Julian Millard, designer, with W. A. Hoyt, serving as the construction engineer. Planning began in 1915, with construction starting in 1916, and completed in mid 1917 “The people of Philipsburg have long indulged the hope of a comfortable and commodious place of amusement and entertainment. For years we have had no suitable place for public meetings, entertaining conventions, or any auditorium large enough for the varied necessities of a community as large as ours. Such a building is a public necessity. The town needs it in order to keep pace with out [sic?] sister communities. Community growth would be retarded without such a public convenience. "I have felt that we should have a theatre building in Philipsburg of size, safety and perfection of appointment that would anticipate the future, maintain our best past traditions, reflect a progressive spirit, while affording us a place to spend a delightful evening at home. It is proposed to stage only plays and moving pictures of class and quality. I trust the people of Philipsburg, together with those who come from surrounding towns, may enjoy the playhouse now dedicated to their use and pleasure. I wish to take this occasion to say to the theatre going public that it has been a source of some gratification to have been the one permitted to open to the general public a place for its comfort and entertainment.”

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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