2026-04-20T18:25:40-04:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://shenandoahstories.org/ Shenandoah Stories https://shenandoahstories.org 2021-06-03T17:03:20-04:00 2021-06-03T17:03:20-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/328 The Shenandoah Stories Team The Pearl White Theater opened on Main Street in Edinburg sometime in the 1920s showing silent movies for between 10 and 20 cents a show. Before it was completed, movies had been shown in the town hall. Electricity for this theater was provided by a generator powered by a water wheel on Stony Creek. The theater was named for “Pearl White” the title character of a popular 1914 film series The Perils of Pauline. Later it would be called the Valley Theater and was part of a string of movie theaters owned and operated by the Dalke Family. A new building holding the theater opened at what is now 121 S. Main Street in Edinburg on December 23, 1932. It was complete with a new RCA sound system. The date when the original theater was constructed is uncertain. For many years the theater was managed by Lenny Winesburg who was also a local tinsmith. Several local women worked as musicians, providing background music to some of the silent films shown here and for theatrical productions. They included Mable Stoneburner Zirkle, Jeanette Murray, and Nell Wightman. The theater closed sometime in the mid-20th century. It was remodeled to hold People’s Drug Store, now Murray’s Fly Shop. For more, view the original article. 2017-10-24T12:00:36-04:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/291 The Shenandoah Stories Team In 1940 William Dalke and his family completed a new movie theatre on this site in Woodstock. At the time it was one of two theatres operated by the Dalkes in Woodstock and one of several in their chain of movie houses in Shenandoah County. When it was built this structure was one of the newest and most modern theatres in the area. The building was constructed in the popular Art Deco Style and housed two businesses on the first floor along with the theatre. It could accommodate 350 persons in the main theatre and 150 more in its balcony. Movies were held regularly every night, several times on Saturday, and at a Sunday matinee. Travelling troops and community organizations also regularly conducted performances on the theatre’s stage, including westerns complete with horses. In an era before television and computers, it was one of the community’s most popular entertainment venues. During the Second World War the Community Theatre became an important part of the local war effort. Its primary function was to provide information to the community. Newsreels that provided updates on the war and the Homefront were shown regularly before movies and at special showings. In addition to providing news service, the Dalke family also turned the theatre into collection centers. Locals were invited to bring scrap items, fats, clothes, books, or other items in place or regular admission on special days. Informational films that promoted increased agricultural yields, war spirit, and bon sales were also shown. After the war the Dalke’s continued to operate, and expand this theatre and their chain. Two additional screens were added to the Community Theatre in the 1970s and 1980s. However, competition from television and larger theaters in other communities led to the closure of many of the Dalke’s movie houses. However, Community remained opened and was sold in 2008 to the Garman family who continue to operate the theatre. For more, view the original article. 2017-10-06T17:07:57-04:00 2022-07-21T15:37:59-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/269 The Shenandoah Stories Team The 1885 Lake's Atlas of Shenandoah and Page Counties notes the "Shenandoah House" stood on this site. It would have served travelers on the Valley Turnpike and from the nearby rail line. Sometime in the last decade of the 19th century/first decade of the 20th century the Holtzman family purchased the structure and renamed it the Hotel Holtzman. It was one of many such businesses they operated in several county towns. In 1907 the Shenandoah Herald reported it was one of the last two bars operating in the Town of Woodstock. The Holtzman Hotel's bar would operate until alcohol was outlawed in 1907. At the time the Shenandoah Herald reported only it and the Holtzman Hotel across the street were operating bars. It, and the Geary Hotel across the street generated over $500 annually in town liquor taxes so their business must have been brisk. Lawyers representing the two businesses fought efforts to outlaw alcohol, but they were unsuccessful. The "dry" won by one vote. On September 26, 1916 the Holtzman Hotel was the site of an address by Lila Valentine, President of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. The Shenandoah Herald noted it was an "excellent address" and would have been designed to promote the women's suffrage movement in Shenandoah County. The hotel would operate into the 1920s when it was purchased by the Dalke Family. They opened the Uptown Theater here and rented commercial space in the front to a barbershop. After the Dalke's opened the Community Theater two blocks away the Uptown Theater primarily showed westerns and other cheaper films. In 1947 a fire heavily damaged the building and it was demolished. In 1974 Shenandoah County purchased this land and built a new circuit court house here. For more (including 2 images), view the original article.