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Writer's pictureLaura Farrell

The Maplewood Theater: A Storied Past, An Uncertain Future

Updated: Sep 30


Image of the Maplewood Theater, Maplewood, NJ 1953
Maplewood Theater, 1953

In an area as small as Maplewood Village, every building and every business becomes a part of its fundamental character.


The Maplewood Theater building and the building that originally housed the Maplewood Bank & Trust Co., on the corner of Inwood Place, have been vacant since the pandemic, and the town is working with the property owners to find private developers for both sites. These two structures, as well as the storefronts between Inwood and Durand Road, are part of a redevelopment plan being created by Maplewood Township, with input from local citizens.


The Maplewood Theater was built in 1927 and has had many lives, as a place for vaudeville as well as live theater featuring stars such as Tallulah Bankhead, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Robeson, and, of course, movies, lots of movies. The Durand-Hedden House displayed an extensive exhibit on the theater in 2015. Read the newsletter based on that exhibit here.


Image of the Maplewood Theater, Maplewood, NJ, 1968
Maplewood Theater, 1968

image of Tallulah Bankhead, Maplewood Theater, Maplewood, NJ 1940
Tallulah Bankhead, Maplewood Theater, 1940




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