Millerton Moviehouse marks 120 years with structural upgrades

There are a handful of buildings that have stood the test of time over Millerton’s 175-year history. But if there’s one that stands out as a singular representation of the town, it’s the Millerton Moviehouse and its iconic clock tower.

Built in 1903 as a grange hall, it was soon converted into a movie theater with a second-floor ballroom. It was one of a handful of buildings that came to define the town in the following decades, standing tall across the street from the Episcopal Church and Millerton Inn, next to Terni’s, and up the hill from Millerton’s train station.

When a fire destroyed the local department store and other storefronts on the north side of Main Street in 1955, the Moviehouse became a landmark that represented the village’s early history.

It fell into disrepair in the 1970s and was briefly run as an adult theater. Marian and Carr Ferguson bought the theater in 1974, hoping to revive its status as a first-run theater and remove the pornographic element. Their four teenage daughters ran the theater for two years before the Fergusons sold the Moviehouse to Carol and Robert Sadlon in 1978.

“It was a single theater with 300 seats. There was no heat, no air conditioning,” said Carol Sadlon when asked about the state of the theater when she and her husband purchased it.

The Sadlons worked hard to improve the facilities over their nearly 50-year tenure. They added heat, air conditioning, and a second screening room. In 2012, they replaced the 35mm projection systems with a digital system.

But when COVID hit in 2020, the Moviehouse was an early casualty. By November 2020, the property was on the market, and the whole concept of movie theaters was in question.

Vaccines arrived in early 2021 — and a buyer for the Moviehouse followed soon after. The new co-chairs, David Maltby and Chelsea Altman, made the purchase in February 2021 and reopened the theater as a non-profit.

Its new non-profit status allowed the Moviehouse’s operators to seek grant funding. They initiated a massive renovation campaign that included redesigning both floors and adding an elevator. They also replaced the signage, and upgraded the seating this past April.

This past month, the Moviehouse received $99,000 as part of a grant provided by the New York State Council on the Arts that will pay to renovate and stabilize the 120-year-old building.

Looking forward, general manager Jeremy Boviard has big plans for the Moviehouse’s future. “What excites me about the possibilities looking forward is that we continue our positive trajectory as a regional arts center,” Boviard said. “We want to reach a wide variety of demographics, and continue to grow in lockstep with the needs of our community.”