NorShor Theatre

Its glory was restored after it fell by the

By Adelle Whitefoot awhitefoot@duluthnews.com

The NorShor Theatre has had many ups and downs in its lifetime. But city officials made a promise to the community to bring it back to its former glory, and that’s exactly what they did with the help of a generous developer.

The NorShor Theatre opened in August 1910 as the Orpheum Theatre, built by G.G. Hartley for the cost of $150,000.

“It is gorgeous where the gorgeous is appropriate and subdued where the inconspicuous is fitting. The lighting is perfection and the acoustics such that every word from the stage is as distinctly heard in every corner and in the gallery as in the nearest box,” the News Tribune reported after the theater’s opening.

After extensive remodeling, the Orpheum reopened as a movie theater in July 1941 and was renamed the “NorShor”. The first movie shown in the theater was “Caught in the Draft,” starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

In 1982, the theater was closed and sold to Eric Ringsred. After that, the theater went through many managers and was sold to a nonprofit in the 1990s before it ended back under the control of Ringsred.

Under Ringsred, the NorShor opened and reopened many times and as many different businesses,