The theatre was able to seat 1000 people. The grand opening premier was Aloma Of The South Seas. It was also one of the finest theatres in the state with the latest sound equipment. Matinees were 33 cents and evening shows were 39 and children under 12 were 10 cents. Boy those were the days eh? Now to go to any movie theatre it will cost you 11 dollars at some places. 

In the 1950s and 1960s the Dixie and Ritz theater opened up and during World War II the Marion theatre survived its competition till the 1970s when it was shut down and vacant. The theatre stayed closed for about 13 years. 

In 1986 the theatre was donated to the city by James E. Kirk Jr. who was the former Ocala Mayor and president of the Chamber of Commerce. The Discovery Science Center was in operation from 1990 till about 2001 where it was moved in 2002 to brick city quarry park because of its growing size.  In 2003 the theatre was revived with a long term lease for it to be restored to its original intended purpose a movie house.

In 2004 the Marion Film & Visual Arts Foundation begins a 1 million dollar fundraising campaign to cover the cost of restoration and bring it state of the art equipment. In 2004 when it was done it had a grand re-opening. The theatre received many preservation grants, private donations and local fundraisers. Really fascinating that it was resurrected. 

Now whether the building is haunted its hard to say. Sometimes we do investigations and people come forth to me with there experiences at a given place. So I hope others will tell me more about its haunted history cause I really do not know what ghost stories come with this historic structure. I do feel energy here and well as a paranormal investigator you tend to believe most theatres are haunted by an actress, actor or by another outside influence. Lots of energy, crying, and laughing passed around here threw the years.

© By

Rick-LordOfThyNight