Clewiston Theater

Clewiston, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Dixie Crystal Theatre, also known as the Clewiston Theater, is a flat-roofed, one-story masonry movie house built in 1941 in Clewiston, Florida, and designed by architect Chester A. Cone of West Palm Beach. Measuring 45 by 93 feet, the theater exemplifies simplified Moderne style—a notable architectural rarity in the region—and was commissioned by Mary Hayes Davis, a newspaper publisher and businesswoman who operated a chain of south Florida movie theaters. The building's name derives from the local sugar industry. On July 20, 1964, the theater achieved peaceful integration when five African American youths attended an evening show under the watchful presence of local law enforcement. The venue later reopened after a brief 2011 closure to present live music and films before closing again by 2015. The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 and has since been converted into a dental office.