Historic Movie Theaters of Columbia, Missouri

From converted saloons and warehouses to movie palaces and multiplexes, for more than one hundred years, Columbia’s movie theaters have reflected the changes around them. In 1928, the Hall Theatre showed its first talkie, the third debut of talkies in Missouri. America fell in love with cars, and Columbia’s three drive—ins featured pony rides, monkeys and playgrounds. In response to segregation, which forced Black patrons to sit in the balcony, in 1949 two Black entrepreneurs built the Tige...