The State Theater in Hutchinson, Minnesota, opened its doors on December 28, 1937. Customers paid their 35 cents and packed into the single-screen, 800-seat theater to watch “True Confession” – a screwball comedy starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and John Barrymore. The theater’s vibrant marquee contained 60,000 feet of neon and other lighting.
The lounge inside features plush sofas and chairs. A tiered, stainless steel and colored mirror cascading fountain graced the lobby. And there was air conditioning. The theater seats were more comfortable than the furniture in many customers’ homes. In addition to the movie theater, the building had space for six apartments, four stores, and four offices.
The Art Deco movie theater was designed by Minneapolis-based architects Lienberg and Kaplan. Lienberg and Kaplan designed numerous theaters across the midwest, including the Falls Theater in Little Falls, Riverview Theater in Minneapolis, and Norshor Theater in Duluth, among others in Minnesota.
A second screen was added to the theater in the 1970s and a third in the 1980s. By the time the theater closed in 2001, it was in desperate need of renovations and technology updates. New owners took on the project in 2003 and reopened the theater on September 10, 2005. Today, the State Theater shows first-run movies on its three screens.
