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The Old Gem Theater has a long history as a community-gathering place and focal point for high quality entertainment in New Richmond and St. Croix County. Originally called the ‘Gem’ the theater was opened in 1916 as a vaudeville house. With the advent of film, the theater was quickly converted to a movie house, playing the latest entertainment of the times – silent films. Throughout the 1920s, the Gem was the region’s only movie house for silent films and later, talkies. In 1960, candidate John F. Kennedy made a historic visit to the Gem giving a speech to area residents during his campaign for President. By the late 1980s, the aging building had fallen into disrepair. In the fall of 1990 the building underwent extensive restorations and was re-outfitted for live theater, and became the new home for the “Stagedoor Players.”
In 2002 new owners, Rick Coleman and Kathy Welch, re-christened the building the ‘Old Gem Theater’ in honor of the building's historic and cultural significance to the city of New Richmond and the St. Croix River Valley communities.
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