From Silent Movies to the Sokol
For more than a century, the building at 540-542 Laurel Street in Reading has served the city in one form or another.
It began in 1914 as the Laurel Theatre, one of Reading’s early neighborhood motion-picture houses. It later became the Palm Theatre and then the Rivoli Theatre. When the movies ended, the building was transformed into the home of the Slovak Catholic Sokol, beginning a second life devoted to athletics, social events and neighborhood activities.
Decades later, another Reading athletic organization—the East End Athletic Club—would also temporarily call the old theater home.
Newspaper advertisements, historical accounts and property deeds make it possible to follow this unusual building from the silent-film era through more than 110 years of Reading history.
The Picture Show Years
A New Moving-Picture Theatre at Sixth and Laurel
The story begins in the summer of 1914.
On June 27, the Reading Times reported that a new “moving picture theatre” would be erected at the northwest corner of Sixth and Laurel streets by Mrs. Mary Ernst.
The plans had already been reviewed by the Pennsylvania Department of Industry and Labor in Harrisburg before being received by Reading building inspector Charles T. Miley.
The specifications reveal how seriously theater safety was being taken.
The building was to be constructed of strictly fire-resisting material. The ceiling was to be fireproof, and an up-to-date ventilation system would be installed. The newspaper even reported the seating dimensions: the backs of the rows were to be 23 inches apart, while the arms of the seats were spaced 18 inches apart.
Those precautions were particularly important during the early motion-picture era, when highly flammable film stock made theater fires a major concern.
This was not merely an existing storefront being turned into a nickelodeon. A purpose-built neighborhood movie theater was rising at Sixth and Laurel.
The Laurel Theatre Opens in 1914
A later historical account states that the Laurel Theatre opened August 30, 1914.
It identifies Mary A. Ernst as owner and O. D. Keenan as manager.
There is, however, an interesting discrepancy in the surviving record.
A newspaper advertisement dated September 7, 1914, announced:
“LAUREL THEATRE — 6TH AND LAUREL STS. — GALA OPENING TO-DAY.” Advertisement · September 7, 1914
The featured attraction was the three-reel Bison production Dangers of the Veldt, starring Edna Maison and Herbert Rawlinson.
The following day’s program advertised Barbara Tennant in Allah 3311.
It is possible that August 30 represented an initial or preliminary opening and September 7 was the formal gala opening. It is also possible that the later historical account was simply off by a week.
What is certain is that by early September 1914, the Laurel Theatre was showing motion pictures to residents of the neighborhood.
A Neighborhood Movie House
The Laurel was very different from the large downtown theaters that would eventually dominate Reading’s entertainment district.
It was a neighborhood theater.
For families living in the blocks surrounding Sixth and Laurel, going to the movies did not require traveling into the heart of downtown Reading. The latest photoplays could be seen within walking distance of home.
That was increasingly common during the 1910s.
Motion pictures were rapidly evolving from a novelty shown in small nickelodeons into one of America’s most popular forms of entertainment. Neighborhood theaters brought that new entertainment directly into residential communities.
The Laurel was part of that transformation.
George W. Bennethum and Reading’s Early Movie Industry
One of the most important figures associated with the theater was George W. Bennethum (1877-1927).
Bennethum was a pioneer motion-picture exhibitor in Reading and elsewhere.
Before becoming involved with movies, he was known locally for his connection with the candy stand at the Mt. Penn Tower and the bowling alleys there.
In 1907, he opened the Edisonia Nickelodeon at 437 Penn Street, which later became the Parlor Theatre.
In 1909, he opened Pictureland at 645 Penn Street, another well-known early Reading movie house.
Bennethum eventually developed theater interests in Allentown, Pottstown, Coatesville and Philadelphia, as well as Reading.
A historical profile of Bennethum identifies the theater on Laurel Street among his interests and notes that it was later known as both the Palm and Rivoli.
Other people associated with operation of the Laurel over the years included William Prutzman, Dr. J. S. Walter and Al C. Werner, among others.
Fred Stock was remembered as an operator, while Charles Bloom served as an organist.
Bloom’s presence is a reminder that so-called silent movies were rarely silent inside the theater. Organists and pianists supplied music to accompany the action on the screen.
The Laurel Becomes the Palm Theatre
At some point after its opening, the Laurel was renamed the Palm Theatre.
Surviving advertisements and programs provide a remarkable glimpse into what neighborhood audiences were watching.
One Palm Theatre advertisement at “6th and Laurel Sts.” promoted the ten-part production The Right to Happiness, featuring silent-film star Dorothy Phillips.
An especially interesting surviving Palm Theatre program advertised an entire week of attractions.
Among them were:
Coming attractions advertised performers including George Walsh, Fatty Arbuckle, Bryant Washburn, Wesley Barry, Hobart Bosworth and Viola Dana.
The program shows just how active a neighborhood movie house could be. The attraction could change nearly every day, giving residents a reason to return several times during the same week.
From the Palm to the Rivoli
The Palm was eventually renamed the Rivoli Theatre.
By this period, the movie business was changing.
The days when a single local entrepreneur might operate a neighborhood picture house were giving way to increasingly large theater companies and chains.
A 1931 newspaper account of the building’s history stated that the theater had been operated at different times by A. A. Werner, the Franklin Theatre Company, and later Warner Equity and Stanley-Werner.
But the Rivoli’s days as a movie theater were numbered.
The arrival of synchronized sound films—the “talkies”—at the end of the 1920s transformed the industry. Smaller neighborhood houses faced the cost of installing new sound equipment while competing with larger downtown theaters.
By the beginning of the 1930s, the movies at Sixth and Laurel had come to an end.
The old theater, however, was far from finished.
The Sokol Years
The Slovak Sokol Purchases the Rivoli
On September 30, 1931, a newspaper carried the headline:
“RIVOLI PURCHASED BY ATHLETIC CLUB.” September 30, 1931
Officials of the Slovak Sokol, described as a gymnastic organization, announced that the former Rivoli Theatre at Sixth and Laurel had been purchased by the club.
The building would be remodeled for indoor sports and social activities.
The newspaper reported that the sale had been arranged through A. A. Ullman by Charles E. Kirlin. John Wrable was identified as president of the organization.
The property records help clarify the transaction.
A later deed states that Charles E. Kirlin and Laura B. Kirlin, his wife, together with Andrew R. Karahuta, conveyed the property to the Slovak Catholic Sokol of Reading by deed dated October 8, 1932.
The 1931 newspaper announcement therefore appears to mark the beginning of the Sokol’s acquisition, while the formal deed transfer followed in 1932.
A $10,000 Transformation
The former theater underwent an extensive renovation.
A newspaper account of the Sokol dedication reported that approximately $10,000 was spent remodeling the building.
The old theater had reportedly been condemned as a fire hazard.
Rather than simply removing the seats and placing athletic equipment inside, the Sokol dramatically changed the interior.
The newspaper described the remodeled building as resembling an Arabian temple.
The dedication featured a chicken dinner, speeches, music and dancing.
National and local Sokol officials attended, along with community leaders and clergy.
Charles E. Kirlin expressed the hope that the new home would promote good fellowship.
The program opened with the audience singing “America” and concluded with the Slovak hymn.
A building created to bring people together for movies was now bringing them together for an entirely different purpose.
The Sokol Becomes a Reading Institution
The local Slovak Catholic Sokol organization had been founded in 1929.
Its home at 540 Laurel Street soon became an important center of Slovak-American community life in Reading.
The organization’s activities combined athletics, recreation, religion and social life.
Programs included gymnastics and recreational activities for boys, girls and adults.
Over the years, activities associated with the Sokol included:
But the Sokol Home was much more than a gymnasium.
It hosted dinners, dances, banquets, meetings, celebrations and other gatherings.
The 10th Anniversary Celebration
By 1939, the Reading Slovak Catholic Sokol was thriving.
A newspaper article celebrating its 10th anniversary reported approximately 500 active members and 145 associate members in the Reading branches.
The anniversary began with religious services at nearby Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church.
Afterward, approximately 350 people attended a banquet at the Sokol Home at 540 Laurel Street.
The Rev. Michael P. Kakos delivered an address, and numerous local and national Sokol officials participated.
Blue and white—the organization’s colors—were used for the decorations.
Music was provided by Art Rabel’s orchestra.
The gathering demonstrated how completely the former movie theater had been absorbed into the life of Reading’s Slovak community.
Twenty-five years earlier, residents had gathered there to watch Dangers of the Veldt.
Now hundreds were gathering there for religious observances, speeches, music and dinner.
Forty-Five Years at Laurel Street
The Sokol remained at the old theater for approximately 45 years.
A 1977 Reading Eagle article announced:
“Sokols Will Move Saturday.”
The article stated that the Slovak Catholic Sokol Club was preparing to move from 540 Laurel Street, “a location it occupied for the past 45 years.”
That contemporary account fits almost perfectly with the deed record.
The property had formally been conveyed to the Sokol in 1932.
Forty-five years later, in 1977, the organization was leaving.
The Sokol period therefore lasted roughly from 1932 until 1977—considerably longer than the building’s original career as a movie theater.
The Sokol Moves to Crestmont Street
The Sokol’s new home was at 411 Crestmont Street in Reading’s 18th Ward.
According to the 1977 newspaper account, the Crestmont Street building had previously been the St. Donato Club and, more recently, the Reading Police Home.
The Sokols had purchased that building in 1975.
Club president Frank E. Macey said a going-away party would be held Friday evening in the Laurel Street building before the organization moved the following day.
The Sokol hoped eventually to construct a new building on Crestmont Street that could better accommodate its activities.
The newspaper specifically listed adult and youth gymnastics, track and field, basketball, volleyball, calisthenic drilling, bowling, golf, softball and pool among the programs sponsored by the club.
After about 45 years, the former Rivoli Theatre was no longer the Sokol Home.
The Paper Trail
1978: The Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association
The property changed ownership shortly afterward.
On March 23, 1978, the Slovak Catholic Sokol Home Association conveyed the former theater property to the Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association.
The deed identifies the property as 540 and 542 Laurel Street and gives its area as approximately 3,257.43 square feet.
The recorded consideration was $32,500.
The sequence of events now fits together clearly:
- 1932 — The Sokol formally acquires the former theater.
- 1975 — The Sokol purchases its future home at 411 Crestmont Street.
- 1977 — The Sokol leaves Laurel Street after approximately 45 years.
- 1978 — The Sokol Home Association conveys 540-542 Laurel Street to the Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association.
More Than Three Decades Under Liberty Ownership
The Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association retained ownership of the former theater property for more than 30 years.
This represented another chapter in a building that had repeatedly adapted to serve organizations rather than disappearing when its original purpose ended.
Then, in 2010, the property changed hands again.
2010: Tropical Oil LLC Purchases the Property
On March 31, 2010, the Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association sold 540-542 Laurel Street to Tropical Oil LLC.
The purchase price recorded in the deed was $45,000.
The document again describes the approximately 3,257.43-square-foot parcel and traces its ownership back to the Slovak Catholic Sokol Home Association.
Nearly a century had passed since Mary Ernst first planned a movie theater on the property.
2017: Rafael and Rosalind Rodriguez
Another ownership change followed seven years later.
On April 24, 2017, Tropical Oil LLC conveyed the property to Rafael E. Rodriguez and Rosalind Rodriguez, husband and wife, as tenants by the entireties.
The deed was recorded by the Berks County Recorder of Deeds on April 26, 2017.
The deed states nominal consideration of $1.
The accompanying Realty Transfer Tax Statement of Value indicates that the transaction was associated with a partial liquidation and Rafael Rodriguez’s ownership interest in Tropical Oil LLC rather than a conventional arms-length sale to an unrelated purchaser.
The property remained the same parcel historically associated with the old theater at 540-542 Laurel Street.
The East End Athletic Club Comes to Laurel Street
The old theater soon found itself associated with yet another Reading athletic organization.
For years, the East End Athletic Club had operated from the historic Mineral Spring Hotel property.
That arrangement ended in 2017, when the City of Reading evicted the East End Athletic Club from the Mineral Spring Hotel building because of unpaid rent.
Needing another location, the East End Athletic Club subsequently rented space in the former Laurel-Palm-Rivoli Theatre building at 540 Laurel Street for several years.
The exact beginning and ending dates of the club’s tenancy are not established by the material gathered here, but its presence adds another remarkable layer to the building’s story.
More than 80 years earlier, the Slovak Catholic Sokol had converted the former Rivoli into an athletic and social center.
Now another Reading athletic club was using the same building.
There is an almost circular quality to the history.
The building had begun as a place of entertainment.
Then it became an athletic club.
Decades after the Sokol left, it once again provided a temporary home for an athletic organization.
A Building That Kept Finding New Uses
By this point, 540 Laurel Street had accumulated an extraordinary list of identities and occupants.
It had been:
- The Laurel Theatre.
- The Palm Theatre.
- The Rivoli Theatre.
- The Slovak Catholic Sokol Home.
- Property of the Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association.
- Privately owned property.
- And, for several years after 2017, a rented home for the East End Athletic Club.
Few neighborhood movie houses survived long enough to develop such a varied second life.
2026: A $238,000 Sale
The most recent documented chapter came in 2026.
On March 30, 2026, Rafael E. Rodriguez and Rosalind Rodriguez conveyed the property to Family Association Service, LP, a Pennsylvania partnership.
The purchase price was:
$238,000
The 2026 deed identifies the premises as 540 Laurel Street, Reading, PA 19602.
Although earlier deeds commonly identify the property as 540-542 Laurel Street, the legal description and parcel information show that the 2026 transaction concerns the same historic property.
The deed also explicitly traces the recent chain of ownership:
| Year | Conveyance | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Liberty Firemen’s Relief Assn. → Tropical Oil LLC | $45,000 |
| 2017 | Tropical Oil LLC → Rafael & Rosalind Rodriguez | $1 |
| 2026 | Rodriguez → Family Association Service, LP | $238,000 |
More than 110 years after the Laurel Theatre opened, the same property remained identifiable in the Berks County deed records.
The Laurel Street Timeline
Mary Ernst develops a moving-picture theater at Sixth and Laurel streets.
The Laurel Theatre opens.
The Laurel becomes the Palm Theatre.
The Palm becomes the Rivoli Theatre.
Newspapers announce the Slovak Sokol’s purchase of the former Rivoli.
The property is formally conveyed to the Slovak Catholic Sokol.
The former theater serves as the Sokol Home and a center for athletics, dinners, dances and community events.
The Sokols purchase their future home at 411 Crestmont Street.
The Sokol moves from 540 Laurel Street after approximately 45 years.
The Slovak Catholic Sokol Home Association conveys the property to the Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association for $32,500.
The Liberty Firemen’s Relief Association sells the property to Tropical Oil LLC for $45,000.
Tropical Oil LLC conveys the property to Rafael E. and Rosalind Rodriguez.
Following its eviction from the Mineral Spring Hotel property, the East End Athletic Club rents space at 540 Laurel Street for several years.
Rafael and Rosalind Rodriguez sell the property to Family Association Service, LP for $238,000.
More Than a Forgotten Movie Theater
It would be easy to describe the building simply as a former movie theater.
That would miss most of its story.
As the Laurel Theatre, it belonged to the pioneering years when movies were still frequently called “photo-plays.”
As the Palm Theatre, it brought major silent-film performers to a neighborhood audience.
As the Rivoli Theatre, it experienced the consolidation of the theater business and the closing years of the silent era.
Then the movies stopped.
But the building did not disappear.
For roughly 45 years, the Slovak Catholic Sokol filled it with gymnastics, basketball, banquets, dances, meetings and community life.
Decades later, the East End Athletic Club temporarily brought athletic-club activity back into the old building.
That continuing ability to find a new purpose may be the most remarkable part of its history.
The building at Sixth and Laurel did something even more unusual.
It survived.
Its screen went dark, but the building remained useful.
Movie patrons gave way to gymnasts. Silent-film music gave way to dances and banquets. The Rivoli became the Sokol Home. Decades later, another athletic club temporarily moved into the same space.
And in 2026, more than a century after the first audiences arrived for the Laurel Theatre’s “photo-plays,” the property changed hands once again.
At one small corner in Reading, the history of early motion pictures, Slovak-American community life, local athletics and neighborhood change can all be traced through the same building.
That makes the former Laurel Theatre much more than a forgotten movie house.
Leave A Comment