Lyric Theatre

After the building that housed the New Royal Theatre was destroyed by fire in December 1914, local businessman Gus Kitzinger, who was owner of the property, made an agreement with motion picture house owners Fitzpatrick, McElroy & Co. in which Kitzinger would construct a new building which the motion picture house owners would lease and operate as a movie theatre. This announcement was made in late August 1915 and by Thanksgiving Day of that same year, Manistee's first class movie theatre opened to the public when "A Fool There Was" starring Theda Bara played to a crowd of over 2,000 people that day alone. The Lyric was later sold to Butterfield Theatres and after the Vogue Theatre opened in 1938, the Lyric resorted to a weekend only schedule in turn showing primarily B-movies and second run features. In 1954, the movie theatre closed for good and was later occupied by the Salvation Army.