Strand History

In a house near a barn, empty lot, and rented home, there lived a family; the Hermans. Paul Alfred Herman, Lillie Mae Yoder, and their daughters, Marguerite and Shirley lived there during the Great Depression. Before the theater was built, their son, Sonny, passed away when he was still a child.

Paul bought the lot next to their house with hopes of building a theater there. His brother, Quinn, was already running a theater down on Main Street near the train tracks at the time. Paul's father, Grandfather Herman, did not believe that a movie theater would bring business. Paul had other plans. He believed that people would go to the movies to escape life for a little while and they'd pay for it too.

With the help of his friends, and later Grandfather Herman, the Kutztown Strand opened for business in 1916. The first movies that were shown were silent films. Charlie Chaplin's comedies were frequents. Lillie played the piano by ear until they could afford a , a type of phonograph. Marguerite would sell the tickets and Paul would run the projector.

Once talkies became popular, films with audio and synchronized dialogue, the Victrola was brought into the Herman household and the theater was expanded. The rented home and barn were incorporated into the theater. The home became part of the ticket office. When the talkie Sunny Side Up came to Kutztown, people lined up all the way and beyond the corner of Whiteoak and Main!

Larry Fenstermacher, a friend of Paul, later rented the business. He was Paul's right hand man and bought the business in 1945. Paul owned the Strand Theatres for 32 years. The third owner, Paul Angstadt, later took charge the theatre.

For a precise history, told in the view of Paul's daughter, please consider "My Memories Of The Strand" by Shirley Zimmerman.