Over a century of movie houses, open-air Airdomes, drive-ins, and Main Street marquees in Graham County, Arizona.
Safford's first purpose-built picture venue opened as an open-air "Airdome Theatre" — a roofless design suited to warm desert evenings, common across the Southwest in the nickelodeon era. Before the year was out, the building was enclosed and became the Safford Theatre, beginning decades of service as downtown's movie house.
As silent film boomed, Solomonville-born Charles Stevens (1893–1964) — son of Graham County's first sheriff — built a prolific Hollywood career, appearing in nearly 200 films over 50 years, including the great Douglas Fairbanks adventure epics. Valley audiences could watch a hometown face swashbuckle across their own Main Street screen.
Postwar Safford supported multiple screens. The Mona Theatre — later refurbished and renamed the Gila Theatre by media entrepreneur Louis Long — anchored downtown until its demolition in 2002. Meanwhile the Safford Drive-In, at Highway 70 and East Hollywood, gave generations of families dashboard-cinema summers under the stars.
Along West Thatcher Boulevard, Fountain Cinemas cycled through several identities — including a stint as a Jerry Lewis Cinema franchise — as national exhibition trends reshaped small-town moviegoing. One by one, the single-screen era faded, and the historic Safford Theatre building went dark as a cinema.
Today, first-run film in the valley belongs to Victory Theatres and Allen Theatres' Stargazer 5, both serving current wide releases to Safford audiences, while the David M. Player Center for the Arts and EAC Fine Arts Auditorium carry the live-performance tradition.
The historic 1911 building — now owned by the Gila Valley Historic Preservation Committee — is the subject of a roughly $1.1 million community restoration led by the Safford Downtown Association, with major support from United Way of Graham and Greenlee Counties, the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, and USDA funding. Fittingly, the design returns the theater to its roots: a partially open-air venue for concerts, community events, and outdoor cinema.
Airdome theaters were open-air movie and vaudeville venues popular in the early 1900s, especially in hot climates like Arizona, where evening desert air made roofless showings comfortable. Safford's theater began in 1911 as an Airdome before being enclosed later that same year — a history the current restoration honors by reintroducing a partially open-air courtyard design.
Over the past century Safford has hosted the 1911 Safford Theatre on Main Street, the Mona Theatre (later the Gila Theatre, demolished in 2002), the mid-century Safford Drive-In on Highway 70, and Fountain Cinemas — which passed through several identities including a Jerry Lewis Cinema franchise. Today's first-run screens are Victory Theatres and Allen Theatres' Stargazer 5.
Charles Stevens (1893–1964), born in Solomonville just east of Safford, appeared in nearly 200 films across a 50-year Hollywood career, including many silent adventure epics alongside Douglas Fairbanks. He remains Graham County's strongest link to the golden age of cinema.
Yes. The 1911 Safford Theatre, owned by the Gila Valley Historic Preservation Committee, is undergoing a roughly $1.1 million restoration led by the Safford Downtown Association, funded in part by United Way of Graham and Greenlee Counties, the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, and USDA support. The plan converts the building into a partially open-air venue for concerts, events, and outdoor cinema.
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