History of the Bijou Theatre (1906-1963):
- First movie theater dedicated to showing motion pictures in North Carolina.
- Opened at 211 N. Front St., Wilmington, Dec. 22, 1906.
- Owned and managed by Percy Wells and James Fox Howard. Howard had operated a traveling movie show for several years. Wells was a trapeze performer.
- First opened in a tent on a vacant lot on Front Street between the Cape Fear Club and the Postal Telegraph Office.
- Likely had a “roped off” space for African-American movie-goers.
- Today an urban park, a sidewalk mosaic marks the spot where the Bijou used to be.
