Named in honor of America’s servicemen and women, The American Theater opened on September 19, 1942 as one of few premiere movie houses in Charleston. The theater was built to serve the vast number of people living north of Calhoun Street and included enough seating for 900. A modern facility, it also came equipped with a small stage, Simplex projectors and RCA sound equipment. Just five years later, the cineplex was already in desperate need of expansion, and shortly thereafter, 200 additional seats were installed and the small stage was enlarged.

Unfortunately, the theater’s popularity did not last long. By the 1960’s, attendance was unsustainably low, as the movie house struggled against economic and social changes and the overwhelming rise of television. Although one of the last-standing theaters in town, The American Theater was finally forced to close its doors in 1977.

The building stood vacant and abandoned until Patrick Properties purchased it in 1997. The American re-opened in February of 2003 as a state of the art meeting and conference facility, and has since hosted a variety of memorable upscale corporate events.