The Art Deco Saluda County Historical Society Community Theatre

On The National Registry of Historical Places

The Saluda Theater

As dusk falls on Main Street, the Saluda Theater glows like a jewel in the night beckoning the community to come together for entertainment and enlightenment. Once again it is a focal point in Saluda County as it was from the day it opened in 1936 with a Loretta Young movie until that day in 1981 when the last reel wound to a stop and the screen went dark.

From that sad day until 1987 the once-vibrant theater sat on the courthouse square, its paint peeling, its doors closed, its marquee empty. To the casual observer it was just an old building, rotting away, forgotten, a relic of happier days. But there were those who listened to the echoes in their hearts, who had a vision of what might be, indeed of what could be if enough people cared.

Many people did care. The members of the Saluda County Council showed their concern for the welfare not only of the theater but also of the people of Saluda County when in 1987 they purchased the theater and the adjoining building to be used as a cultural center and a museum. The newly-chartered Saluda County Historical Society rose to the Council’s challenge when they accepted by deed these properties and the responsibility of carrying out the Council’s mandate to restore the theater and establish a county museum.

Since that time the people of Saluda County along with many others whose roots still bind them to this place have generously answered the call from the historical society to save the theater and create a repository for history and artifacts. Today the theater, now on the National Register of Historic Places, appears much as it did in 1936, a beautiful example of Art Deco design that flourished and then vanished from most small towns in the South. And adjacent to it, the museum stands, a place where the record of the past meets the vitality of the present in an ever-evolving collection.

Both the theater and the museum are fulfilling the vision of the County Council and the historical society. The theater provides a stage for many activities such as dance recitals, graduation exercises, band concerts, community meetings, church and civic programs, talent shows, professional touring groups, and the productions of Saluda’s community theater group, the Saluda Players, as well as those historical dramas produced by the historical society. Visitors from all over the country come to the museum seeking information about the Saluda area and their connections to it.

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