The History

The history of the old movie theater(s) in Clanton was all learned from the president of the Chilton County Historical Society, Derric Scott. All credit of information and photos go to him, you are able to find all this information on the Chilton County Historical Society's website labeled "Clanton Theatres by Derric Scott".

 The first Clanton Theatre opened in 1909 in "Chandlers Building" with the play "A Terrible Tinker". Later, in 1913 the "Lyric Theatre” was moved to the Mullins building on 2nd Ave N. Soon after, in 1915 Brit Allen sold the theater to W. L. Stapleton, also in October of 1915 Ed Driver sold the Dixie Theatre to Rowe and Odom of Prattville. In 1916 the theater reopened under the management of Paul C. Smith,”at the Candy Store”, it was advertised in March of 1917 as the “Ideal Theatre”. During 1921 Paul Smith passed away leaving the “Candy Store” and “The Ideal Theater’ to be sold to W. A. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds was running a General Store in the “ old Candy Store”. The “Ideal Theatre” was bought by Frank Hardee of Anniston in December of 1921, Hardee planned to name the theatre “The Strand” where it would be a first class amusement house. However, six months after “The Strand” was bought out by Charles Wade of Calera. In 1922 Charles Wade opened the Clanton Wadesonian and remodeled the old “First Baptist Church”. The church location was short-lived as a fire broke out in the church at 1:30 a.m. on August 5th, 1923 which burned the building to the ground. After the fire, shows were temporarily moved to the “Downs Warehouse” on 6th Street. Mr. Wade planned to rebuild the theater in the same place however, legal complications would not allow him to do so. In February of 1924 Charles Wade moved his “picture show” from the Downs Warehouse to the building on the west side of the railroad, the building was recently vacated by B. L. Jones. This was now named and referred to as the “Wadesonian”. The Wadesonian Theatre, like the old First Baptist Church had a Stage and a separate entrance for the “colored people ''. The Wadesonian also had an apartment upstairs occupied by Charles Wade and his family. On April 15, 1936 Charles Wade and his son (Charles William Wade Jr.) opened the “New Wadesonian Theatre” ; this would have been the third Wadesonian in Clanton. Charles Wade also ran theaters in Thorsby, Calera, Montevallo, and Columbiana. The “Old Wadesonian Theatre” (on the west side of the railroad) continued to run. On October 22, 1946 Charles Wade died at the age of 84. On February 2, 1956 the New Wadesonian closed permanently, while the Wadesonian in Maplesville and the Old Wadesonian in Clanton continued to run. On October 17, 1957 Sherwin- Williams opened in the New Wadesonian Building, it is unclear when Sherwin-Williams closed however, the New Wadesonian building is now occupied by William Rose. 

  We do not know when the Wadesonian officially closed as a “motion picture show” however we do know that one of the last movies shown was “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” in 1973. The movie theater was also used for gospel groups in the 70s and a church later on.