Plans to build a "modern" theater in what was then the city of St. Johns were announced in 1913 by C. A. Metzger of the People's Amusement Company.

In 1915, the St. Johns City Council voted in favor of an ordinance that would censor a film entitled The House of Bondage[3] and put in place a board of censorship to weed out "lewd" films, spearheaded by socialist mayor A. W. Vincent.

Managers of the theatre were supportive of the censorship board and refused to show the film a year before the ordinance was enacted.

[4][5] The theater hosted a town hall event in 1928 about the proposition of a new bridge over the Willamette River in St. Johns.

[7] On July 7, 1986 there was a fire in an apartment above the theater after a firecracker was thrown through the window and into a waste basket.