Description of Historic Place

The Jax Theatre is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on one lot on First Avenue West in the Town of Bengough. The property features a long rectangular-plan, wood-frame building constructed in 1953.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Jax Theatre lies in its long association with entertainment and social life in Bengough. The smaller “Bengough Theatre” had operated on the same site for several decades prior to 1953, when it was demolished by a new owner and replaced with the larger “Jax Theatre.” For more than twenty years, the new theatre’s motion pictures and occasional live performances were welcome and much-enjoyed diversions for the small rural community. After a brief closure, the theatre re-opened in 1988 under new ownership as the “Popcorn Palace.” Although many people still enjoyed attending its movies and stage shows, the theatre found it increasingly difficult to cope with rising operating costs and competition from newly emerging forms of entertainment. Eventually, it suffered the same fate as the majority of small-town theatres on the prairies, closing in 1999. Currently, a local Arts Council is redeveloping the theatre as a performing arts centre, reflecting the community’s ongoing attachment to the facility as a social and cultural centre.

Source:

Town of Bengough Bylaw No. 5/2005.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Jax Theatre resides in the following character-defining elements:
-elements that identify the building as a small-town theatre and speak to its long-standing role as a community entertainment centre, including its long-rectangular form; the stepped, Boomtown façade; the awning over the entrance; centrally-placed double doors framed with glass blocks and flanked by sign-boards for advertising theatre attractions; the interior spatial arrangement of foyer and auditorium with stage; and its location, which has been the site of the town theatre since the early-twentieth century.