Strand Theatre (Opera House)

The Strand Theater was located at 20 Hanover Street, Manchester NH 03101. The Strand Theater was originally the Manchester Opera House, which opened in 1881. The Opera House was run by Edward W. Harrington Jr. However, the Opera House closed and was sold and renamed The Strand Theater in 1906. This change occurred because the Opera House could no longer make a profit and compete with the new movie industry or Boston, Massachusetts’s theaters. This theater featured one screen and 1,265 seats. By the mid-1930s, Shea Theaters was running the Strand. In August 1935, the Manchester Union stated that repairs and air conditioning were being installed to the theater and that it would re-open in the fall. The Strand showed “first-run” films up into the late 1960s.

In 1938, the stage of the Strand Theater was actually cut back to create space for more seats. This implied that more movie-goers were going to the theater than it could originally hold. Throughout the 1940s, the theater changed managers almost yearly. Some managers of theater, at this time, were Francis W. Lamarre, Bernard Hickey, and Albert W. Foley. The theater officially closed in 1977. On March 9, 1985, there was a fire that destroyed The Strand Theater and the surrounding shops and commercial centers of the Harrington-Smith Block area. Restoration projects sought to recreate the storefronts and original features of the area. However, the theater was completely demolished. The theater's location was ultimately converted into street-level stores and apartments on the higher levels with the name "Opera Block Apartments". Today, the “Strand” letters are still outlined in the tile walkway outside of the building. Harrington-Smith Block, in downtown Manchester, is still considered an important, historic area today.

Strand Theatre, Cinema Treasures. Accessed April 28th 2021. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/36025.

Ghosts of Cinema: A Walking Tour of Manchester, NH's Historic Theatres, ArcGIS. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ff6646933877433080e6850e0eecdc23.

NEW HAMPSHIRE - Hillsborough County, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/nh/hillsborough/state.html.