Historic movie palaces / Monroe Street / Campus Martius
Columbia Theatre
Closed – archive entry · 1911–1952
C. Howard Crane's first Detroit theatre and the Kunsky team's first real movie-and-vaudeville house, opened on Monroe Street in 1911: an alley-jumper, and the city's first theatre with a pipe organ.
Quick facts
- Opened
- 1911
- Closed
- 1952
- Architect
- C. Howard Crane
- Seats
- 1,006 (advertised as 1,500)
02 / The story of this place
Make time for these
The Columbia was John Kunsky and A. Arthur Caille's first real movie-and-vaudeville house after their nickelodeons, and the first of C. Howard Crane's many Detroit theatres. It opened on October 2, 1911, on Monroe Street, the city's first entertainment district, as an alley-jumper: the lobby faced Monroe and led over an alley into an auditorium built on cheaper land behind. It was the first major Detroit theatre to show motion pictures and the first in the city with a pipe organ, a two-manual Hillgreen-Lane. Mayor Frank Murphy threatened its license in 1932 when it briefly turned to burlesque; in the 1940s it catered to Black audiences, and in 1950 it tried burlesque again under Saul Korman. Its last known newspaper ad ran on February 14, 1952.
- C. Howard Crane's first Detroit theatre
- Detroit's first theatre with a pipe organ
- An alley-jumper: lobby on Monroe, hall behind
Plan your visit
The Columbia's last known ad ran in February 1952, and it hasn't operated as a theatre in generations. For a movie downtown today, check the working cinemas in our guide.
Cinemas nearby
Back to cinemas ↗
Multiplexes / Detroit
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Film festivals / Detroit
Detroit Black Film Festival
Independent films directed, written or produced by Black filmmakers, at a Detroit festival Lazar and Marshalle Favors started in 2020. The 7th edition in September 2026 screens 89 films from 30 countries, with the Charles H. Wright Museum as its hub.