Categories: Things To Do

This southern Alberta city is home to the province’s oldest movie theatre

Photo Via Hannah Green Photography/Shutterstock

Alberta is full of rich history tucked into places you probably walk past without a second thought. In Medicine Hat, there’s one building that quietly blends into the downtown street but holds a story that goes back over a century.

The Monarch Theatre sits right in the middle of the city with over 100 years of history packed into its walls. It might not stand out right away at first glance, but once you know the story behind it, it completely changes how you see it.

A living piece of Alberta film history

Built back in 1911, it officially holds the title of Alberta’s oldest purpose-built movie theatre. The Monarch has basically seen every era of film you can think of. According to The Monarch Theatre, it started back in the days of silent films, when live music would play alongside the movie, and from there it evolved with the arrival of colour films and eventually into the modern digital screenings we know today.

For generations, this was the place where people went to experience movies together. But, like lots of historical theatres, things got harder when big multiplex cinemas became the norm in the 1990’s. Attendance dropped, and eventually, the Monarch closed its doors in 2007.

But don’t worry, that wasn’t the end of the story for the theatre.

Thanks to local community members and organizations, the theatre was saved in 2009 and slowly brought back to life. The City of Medicine Hat and friends of the Monarch helped restore and protect the space to make sure it didn’t disappear completely.

According to organizers, in 2016, it was officially recognized as a Municipal Historic Resource, and more recently, Monarch 1911 Society stepped in to continue restoration efforts and bring even more life back into the building.

It truly feels like the theatre got its own movie ending after all!

So next time you’re walking down the streets of Medicine Hat, keep an eye out for the Monarch Theatre. Behind those doors is over a century of history, generations of movie nights, and a building that almost disappeared for good. It’s truly pretty cool to know that a place like this still plays a key role in the community after all these years.