The Traverse City State Theatre actually began as the Lyric Theatre just over 100 years ago in 1916. The site has since seen two debilitating fires, the birth of a film festival, celebrities like Madonna, Jane Fonda and Susan Sarandon and, of course, hundreds of movies.
1916
Local entrepreneur Julius Steinberg opened the Lyric Theatre on July 4, 1916.
1923
The theatre burned down in January 1923. It was renovated over the next year and reopened in December 1923.
1927
Butterfield Theatres took over management. They kept on manager Conrad Foster who continued to work at the Lyric until his death in 1940.
1929
The Lyric showed its first “talkie”—a film called Lucky Boy.
1948
Once again, the theater burned down (January 3, 1948) and had to be renovated. This time it reopened as the State Theatre in June 1949.
1978
Management company GKC turned the single screen cinema into a twin screen so they could show more than one film simultaneously.
1996
After 80 years, the State Theatre closed its doors. Over the next several years, the community deliberated what would be the use for the historic site.
2003
The State Theatre Group and Interlochen Center for the Arts announced a complete renovation.
2007
The rotary charities donated the theater to the Traverse City Film Festival. That November, it reopened with a gala premiere of the film The Kite Runner.
TODAY
The State Theatre is an integral centerpiece to both Traverse City and the Traverse City Film Festival.
Historical photos provided by the Traverse Area District Libary, localhistory.tadl.org. Current photos of The State by Traverse City photographer Dave Weidner.
