Dillon Theatre

114 North MacArthur Avenue

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Dillon Downtown Historic District

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Photographed by Devry Becker Jones, May 21, 2026

1. Dillon Theatre Marker

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The Dillon Downtown Historic District is a collection of seventy-five commercial buildings in the downtown area of Dillon, South Carolina, a small railroad-centered town in the agriculturally based Pee Dee region in the state. The district is centered along the town's Main Street and the east and west sides of the railroad corridor, along MacArthur Avenue, Railroad Avenue and West Harrison Street.

Sixty buildings contribute to the character of the historic district... The contributing properties represent the development of the downtown as a center of commerce in Dillon and the county seat of the newly-formed Dillon County in 1910. The properties were constructed between ca. 1903 and 1948 with the majority constructed between 1903 and 1946.

The

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), May 21, 2026

2. Dillon Theatre

historic resources in this district are representative of commercial, institutional and governmental architecture in many small towns in rural South Carolina, especially in county seat towns that developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The commercial area features either one- or two-story brick buildings with first-story glass and metal storefronts, second-story double-hung sash windows, brick panels and corbeled cornices. Many of them retain their original storefront openings and forms, though not their original materials, but storefronts do not determine the contributing or noncontributing status of buildings in the district. Most buildings retain the original elements of the upper portion above the first-story storefront, whether one- or two-story buildings. Several buildings have had their facades altered by the addition of metal or wood/composition-shingle awnings, or the infill of second-story windows. Though the cumulative effect of some alterations classify fourteen buildings as non-contributing, in most instances such alterations do not impair either the individual buildings' architectural integrity or the historic district's ability to convey its character from the period of significance.

44. Dillon Theatre, 114 North MacArthur Avenue (1919/1935): Two-story brick

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construction with stucco facade, side bastions with capping course, and center finials at ridge. Fake shed roof with shingles sloping down between piers with white medallions. Continuous stringcourse below. Latticework inset into square pier cutout. Upper facade has centered recessed table in three arch arcade supported by two collonettes on top of a stone sill. Blocked entry to small balcony supported by a stone sill and brackets in each pier. Lower facade has an arched entryway with metal door beneath Moorish stone ornament in each pier. Centered double glass and metal door entry doors with sidelights below an Art Deco-style suspended marquee. In 1935 owner H.H. Anderson employed architects Lafaye and Lafaye of Columbia to extensively renovate the theatre and adjacent building in 1935. The design, most likely the work of Robert S. Lafaye, is described as "Spanish Colonial" or Moorish and was proclaimed as most up-to-date. Contractor John Rather Hilton did the work. In 1989, the theatre underwent a major exterior restoration and interior adaptation for use a live performance center for Dillon County. The theatre continues to be utilized for live performances today.