There was a nice article in the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise last week regarding a garden railroad located in Leominster Massachusetts and designed by a gentleman named Walt Pauli. Though I never got into the hobby, I have always been fascinated by model railroading for several reasons. The first reason is that I have always loved railroads; from watching freight trains roll by to riding the MBTA commuter rail and subway system (with the exception of that dreadful blue line). However my favorite trait regarding model railroading is it always tends to glorify classic downtown areas, elaborate landscapes, and American industry with absolutely no sign of shopping malls, strip malls, big box stores, etc. Though I have not visited Mr. Pauli's railroad, the photographs featured in the Fitchburg & Sentinel clearly show several of these traits are present in his railroad; especially paying homage to classic downtown areas as it features a few beautiful recreation models of several buildings in downtown Leominster. These recreations consist of the Leominster Railroad station, the (now unfortunately fire destroyed) Columbian Hotel, and (my favorite of the three) the Rialto Theatre. As seen in the newspaper photograph, you can clearly see the detail put into all of the buildings, especially the Rialto Theatre. Having traveled through Leominster I've had the pleasure of seeing the former theater building, and I feel I can honestly say that Mr. Pauli did a wonderful job capturing it's triumphant presence.
The Rialto Theatre as it appeared in 1940. This image is a photocopy of the one found in the book "Images of America: Leomister" by Thomas K. Hazzard and Diane M. Sanabria.
The Rialto
Theatre was the first of three large movie theaters that existed in downtown Leominster during the 1920's through the 1940's. Unfortunately today, it is the only remaining theater building in Leominster as the other two, the Plymouth and the Metropolitan, were demolished some time ago. The Rialto opened in January of 1923, to a "capacity
house", with a program consisting of several vaudeville acts, musical
numbers on a "gigantic Robert Morton Organ", and a film from Paramount entitled “Back Home and Broke” (this information can be found in the Leominster Daily Enterprise from January 9th 1923). The architects of the theater, as indicated
on the Rialto's original blue prints (which are housed at the Massachusetts State Archives), were Funk & Wilcox. Funk and Wilcox designed many buildings throughout Massachusetts including several theaters such as the Ware Theatre in Beverly and the Strand and Franklin Park Theaters
in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
Original blueprints to the Rialto Theatre
The other two theaters, the Plymouth and the Metropolitan, opened several years after the Rialto and unfortunately I do not have as much information on these two as I do on the Rialto. With the exception of some photos of their exteriors, I have not seen any photos documenting their interiors. From what I understand, the Plymouth Theatre was designed in an egyptian style; I am unsure of the style of the Metropolitan. The blueprints to the Metropolitan do exist at the Massachusetts State Archives, and while they detail an elaborate looking facade, they unfortunately do not provide too much insight on it's interior. The blueprints to the Plymouth Theatre are currently unaccounted for.
The Metropolitan Theatre is pictured on the left, while the Plymouth is shown at right. The photograph of the Metropolitan was found on Microfilm while the photograph of the Plymouth can be found in the Leominster History book from Arcadia Publishing. (Keep in mind images from their original source will be in a much higher resolution)
During their day the three theaters played an important role in the Leominster community throughout the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's. Trouble for the three did not start until the post-war World War II era when several changes in the American lifestyle began to occur. The arrival of television, the end of rationing gasoline for automobiles, a rise in drive-in theaters, are some of the many lifestyle changes that began to negatively affect small town theaters across the country; Unfortunately Leominster was no exception. The Rialto closed it's doors and ceased operating as a theater in the 1950's, while the other two theaters closed much later on and were completely demolished. Despite the closing of the Rialto, the building was not demolished as it was renovated into a community center. Though the facade, lobby, and foyer were mainly left alone, the auditorium was unfortunately gutted to accommodate several new features of the community center. Today the Rialto Theatre building still stands and retains many of it's exterior architectural features, allowing it to shine as a beautiful proud asset to downtown Leominster.
"R" and "T"
RIALTO THEATRE
