Looking back: Coyle Theater
This photo of the Coyle Opera House appeared on a 1908 postcard. It underwent a renovation and expansion in 1927.
The Coyle Theatre pictured in the 1940s.
Assistant Lock 4 lockmaster and fire chief Joseph A. Allfree and with Bobby Coyle, owner of the Coyle Theater and Lock 4 resident.
This image of the Coyle Theater was likely taken in the 1960s or 1970s.
The Coyle Theater “is the first – and the last – of the handful of theaters that once existed in Charleroi,” says Nikki Sheppick, chairman of the board of the Charleroi Area Historical Society. “It is the last, still intact, still restorable historic landmark theater – not only in Charleroi, but in the Mid Mon Valley as well as Washington County.”
The theater made news recently when its current owners, the Mon Valley Alliance (who purchased the building from the Mid Mon Valley Cultural Trust Center in December 2015) invited media to see its current, potentially unfixable, state.
And, unfortunately, it’s a complicated situation.
The Charleroi Area Historical Society, along with two former trust members, including Sheppick, filed a suit in Washington County Court claiming the sale violated the terms of the trust’s charter. That lawsuit was dismissed this past December, and the ruling has been appealed to the Commonwealth Court. The MVA says that it doesn’t have the funds to renovate or tear the theater down, and it cannot pay to repair the roof as long as the lawsuit is under appeal.
A recent editorial in the Observer-Reporter noted that “There are no easy answers or solutions. The peek inside the old movie house shows nearly two decades of neglect has taken its toll. There’s not a minute to spare, or the theater could be lost forever.”