BGE-34242B – McHenry Theatre, 1032 S. Light Street near Cross Street, 1959.

Following its grand opening on May 26, 1917—a night that featured the now lost silent film, The Undying Flame, with starlet Olga Petrova—the McHenry Theatre became a gathering place for residents in Federal Hill. At a time when Baltimore had more than one hundred movie houses, the McHenry was considered one of the best with its ornate domed ceiling, double columned walls, and 1,200 plush seats. Among the last of Baltimore’s golden-era movie houses when it closed in 1971, the McHenry was operated by the Kiefaubers, a local family that owned more than three dozen single-screen movie theatres across the city.

(Take photo from the east side of South Light St., north of Cross Street Market.)