In 1927, a businessman from Sturgeon Falls purchased the property at 150 Main Street East in North Bay to build a theatre. During construction he went bankrupt and sold his interests to the Famous Players of Canada Corporation.
Famous Players opened the doors to the new Capitol Theatre on June 1, 1929, for the screening of In Old Arizona, the first Fox Pictures “talkie” motion picture (movies with sound) of its kind.
This theatre had 1455 seats, state-of-the-art technology, elaborate decorative touches, and was referred to as a “palace of splendour.” It wasn’t the only theatre downtown, but the Capitol was the grandest of them all and is the only one left open today.