The Lyric Theatre

Given one of many names over the years, the Lyric Theater has a history dating back to 1906 where many different attractions and contests were reported to take place. According to the Oil Region Library Association, the sort included "champion club jugglers, moving pictures, a man “who played 10 novel music instruments” and Baby Thelma, “the youngest child in Vaudeville who sings, tells stories and does a wonderful whistling speciality.”

• 1906 - Orpheum Theater
• 1917 - The Princess Theater
• After being renamed to The Cameo Theater, it was damaged by fire and owners Herman and Julius Stahl commissioned Holmes Crosby to rebuild
• 1927 - The Lyric reopened
• Vaudeville house until 1937
• Operated as a movie house until closing 1953
• Holmes Crosby redesigned the building into 2 storefronts in 1955 (Abe Lang Women’s Wear and Ray L Way Men’s Wear)
• 2001 Community Playhouse, Inc. purchased the building and began demolition of the storerooms to expose original theater
• 2006 Colonel Drake Cultural Alliance, Inc. entered into an agreement with CPI to assume management and development of the theater.

The Lyric Theater was the last of the smaller movie houses in Oil City to close. It shut down in 1953 and was converted to retail shops two years later. Meanwhile, the city boasted of its two major theaters – the Colonel Drake Theater and the Latonia Theater, for several more years.