205 N. Front, Wilmington, North Carolina
| Dates of Operation | 12/22/1906* - 1956* | ||||||||||||
| Performance Types | movies (12/22/1906*) | ||||||||||||
| Capacity | 800 (5/31/1912*) | ||||||||||||
| Racial Policy | segregated | ||||||||||||
| Description | The Bijou, Wilmington’s first movie theater, first operated as a small wood-fronted tent downtown, and reopened in a permanent, purpose-built structure in 1912. Its proprietors, with professional circus and carnival backgrounds, became Wilmington’s biggest movie theater operators by the early 1930s, but their business soon failed. | ||||||||||||
| Notes | |||||||||||||
| Building Notes | For the first six years of its long operation, the Bijou was a tent built of canvas and wood, with a sawdust floor (Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Wilmington, N.C., June 1910, p. 11). It was erected on a vacant lot at 205 N. Front Street, in the heart of downtown Wilmington. In late 1911, Howard and Wells announced plans to build a permanent structure to replace the tent they had used since 1906. The Bijou reopened on May 30, 1912 and benefited from being a purpose-built theater, rather than merely the renovation/redecoration of an existing storefront. It was the first movie theater in Wilmington to add a balcony specifically for African American patrons. | ||||||||||||
| Associated Persons |
|
||||||||||||
| Associated Organizations |
|
||||||||||||
| (less) | |||||||||||||
Postcard - Bijou, Wilmington, N.C.
Postcard - The Bijou, Wilmington, N. C.
Postcard - The Bijou, Wilmington, N. C.
North Carolina's First Movie Theatre - Bijou
Photo - Bijou Theatre, 1912.
Photograph- The Bijou- Wilmington, NC
Photograph- The Bijou- Wilmington, NC
Photograph- The Bijou- Wilmington, NC
Proudly Standing - Old Bijou site
