Peerless History

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 Construction of the theatre began in 1918 with bricks that were made in a kiln just west of Holyoke. The grand opening of the theatre was on June 13th, 1919 with “The Eleventh Commandment” as the first photoplay on a Simplex motion picture machine. During the early days of the theatre, the brand of the sound system used was “Peerless”, thus the name Peerless Theatre was established. 

The theatre’s original seating capacity was 450 and was heated entirely with steam through radiators. Originally, adult tickets were $0.33 and children were $0.17 with regulation opera chairs being used for seats. In the early days, children were seated by ushers in the first three rows. Offices and apartments were located on the second floor. 

Currently, our seats are designed for comfort, with ample legroom and plush cushions. We also offer booster seats for young children.

 Due to years of inclement weather, the roof collapsed in which a decision was made to tear down and re-construct a new building. Amazingly enough, 75% of the bricks from the original building were saved, cleaned and reused in the Peerless Theatre structure that stands today at 212 S Interocean.

The Peerless Theatre received it's Non-Profit status in 1997 and remains in good standing.

 The Peerless Theatre was owned by various community members and had to briefly close its doors throughout the years due to lack of movie attendance. 

After its longest closure for 12 years, the Peerless Theatre reopened December 25th, 1998, showing “The Prince of Egypt”. The Grand Re-Opening of the Peerless Theatre, complete with ribbon  cutting, invocation, introductions and iconic movie characters in costume was on March 13th, 1999. 

The Peerless has remained open for weekend showings since with the few exceptions early in the 2020 pandemic.