Oldham Theater

In 1926, Cowan Oldham established Oldham Theater. He rented the building just south down from the Lee Hotel to run it out of. If this building still existed today, it would have resided on the northern half of Christpoint Church. Bob Lee, worked as the theater’s first manager. In 1929, James Cardwell became the theater’s next manager. In 1930, Cardwell married Matilda “Tillie” Nelson, and together the pair ran the theater.[1]

While the theater resided in the building next door to the Lee, they had to pay the hotel one dollar a day for heat. Eventually, the Cardwells purchased a coal stove. During showings, Tillie occasionally had to hit the stove to make it function. Hitching posts also stood behind the building. The stench that wafted from the horses proved so overwhelming that the Cardwells purchased the land and forced people to hitch their horses elsewhere. In 1931, the Cardwells used a record player timed to scenes from the films to simulate movies with sound. The need for this ended in 1939 when it became common for movies to already include sound in them.[2]

On February 20, 1935, a crowd of 1,500 people gathered to witness the opening of Oldham Theater at its location on the corner of West Maple Street and Liberty Square. An orchestra from Nashville played throughout the event.[3] After a while, this corner received the nickname “Tillie’s Corner” as she often sold tickets in the theater’s booth there.[4]

The interior of the new theater featured glass chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, coned lights that lined the walls, exquisite drapes that tumbled from the ceiling to the floor, and cushioned leather seats that were there for the moviegoers’ comfort. Steam heating was implemented to provide an upgrade over the coal stove. Despite these improvements, Oldham Theater’s balcony was lamentably segregated based on race.[5]

In 1941, the theater’s success allowed the Cardwells to expand the building by seventy feet. This involved raising the building’s roof and floor and extending its walls.[6]

The Cardwells lived in an apartment on the second floor of the theater. In 1942, a fire broke out in the apartment. Tillie and her six-month-old son, Ross, climbed out of one of the second-floor windows to flee the fire.[7] In 1952, the theater experienced another fire, which forced it to temporarily close for six months as it underwent repairs.[8]

Oldham’s Theater operated in Sparta for fifty-one years and ceased operations on August 29, 1977. The theater had progressively lost business over the years, and it no longer sustained enough customers to continue operating.[9] For a time, the theater briefly reopened until January 29, 1979, when it officially closed for good.[10]

In 1993, the Chamber of Commerce assisted in getting Oldham’s Theater into the National Register of Historic Places, the Citizens for the Arts did a fund raiser to preserve the theater, and the City of Sparta took over ownership of the theater. The city used state grant money and funds from CART to renovate the building’s roof. In 1998, an anonymous donation funded a revamped marquee and façade for the front of the building.[11] Today, the theater can still be seen standing strong at its corner on the square.

[1] Heritage of White County 1806-1999 (Sparta: White County Heritage Book Committee and County Heritage, Inc., 1999), 67.

[2] Heritage of White County, 67.

[3] Heritage of White County, 67.

[4] A Century of Pride White County History 1900-1999 (Sparta: The Expositor, 1999), 120.

[5] Heritage of White County, 67.

[6] A Century of Pride, 120.

[7] “Centennial Edition,” Sparta Expositor, July 29, 1976, 4i-5i.

[8] Heritage of White County, 68.

[9] A Century of Pride, 120.

[10] The Expositor, January 29, 1979, 1.

[11] Heritage of White County, 68.