At 2484 East Main Street, Theodore Lindenberg opened the Bexley Theater in 1935. It may have been the world’s first dual-projection movie theater.

A year prior to its opening, Lindenberg filed a patent for a complex system that allowed a single movie projector to show the same film in two auditoriums simultaneously.

Inside this Art Moderne architecture were other firsts such as ‘seeing eye’ drinking fountains. When leaning over the fountain, the water automatically turned on.

Bexley Theater
by Edie Mae Herrel

Image (c) Bexley Historical Society

As the years went by, the Bexley Theater had several different owners who used the venue in a variety of ways. It went from classic and foreign films to X-rated movies. In the building’s final few years, it was little more than an X-rated video store. The building was demolished in 1997.

Written by Nancy Beck
July 2026

All artwork and images (c) Bexley Historical Society 2026.

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