History

Lewis Rigney settled in Albany before the name of the town was changed from Athens to Albany.  He was a physician and druggist, and accumulated many acres of rich land along the Grand River. His son, Thomas N., born in 1860, joined Lewis in farming the 1,500 plus acres, and later Thomas inherited it from his father. T.N. became the Presiding Judge of the Gentry County Court. T.N. watched the town begin to grow. He was instrumental in the founding of the Albany Christian College and was involved in developing downtown Albany. One of these projects was building the Rigney Theater. 

T.N. selected architect Carl Boller of Kansas City to build a 900-seat theater that would be capable of staging live events and motion pictures. The style chosen was eclectic, and it was built of brick and mortar. The west façade was pediment-shaped with globe ornaments at the ends and center of the roof. A five-bay open arch with pilasters and elliptical lintels with keystones decorated the west façade. Mr. Rigney spent $20,000, which today would be about $600,000.

The magnificent structure opened on December 28, 1914 with a live play. Within months of the opening, the Rigney would also show motion pictures. The silent films were accompanied by ladies who played piano music as crowds watched in amazement. In January 1917 fire gutted the Rigney. As stated in the Albany Ledger, “The building has been the pride of the town. After become accustomed to it and the advantages it has afforded, the people, not only of Albany but of the entire community for miles around, feel keenly the loss.” Due to this fire in 1917, between $8,000 and $10,000 in damages were done to the Rigney. The Rigney was rebuilt. In 1926 the Rigney was listed as having 500 seats, so the original plan had been modified.

In 1931 the orchestra pit was torn out with the full conversion to talking pictures. During the New Deal era, there were Civilian Conservation Corps camps outside Albany. Roads and bridges were being built as men were back at work. On the weekends three shows a day were necessary for the long lines of workers for their entertainment. With the lighted globes atop the theater, the square was alive with restaurants, pool halls, concerts on the courthouse lawn gazebo, and busy shops.   

On December 6, 1956 the Rigney converted to widescreen equipment to give the capability of CinemaScope titles. In 1969 the theater was sold and became the Wilcox Theater. In the coming years people had begun to travel more and went to the cities to see movies. Televisions were in most homes and many people chose to watch shows provided in the comfort of their own homes. The Wilcox was struggling and closed.   

In 1982 a group of Albany Chamber of Commerce members purchased the theater to ensure Albany’s citizens would have movies on the square. The partnership did some fundraising, assumed the debt of the theater, cleaned, wallpapered, painted and reopened the Rigney Theater with the movie “Rocky III” during Thanksgiving weekend.   

The opening of the first movie rental business in 1987 further affected the Rigney’s attendance and sales. The partnership struggled to pay concession workers and projectionists. The Albany Community Development Corporation (ACDC) purchased the Rigney for the amount left on the bank loan in 1999. The ACDC and Student Entertainment Board operated the theater until the movie industry’s conversion to digital projection which required substantial investment in new projection equipment. In 2013 the Rigney closed its doors.  

In 2020 Albany became a part of the Missouri Main Street program. A town hall meeting in February 2020 showed overwhelmingly that the community longed for the return of the Rigney. Since then, the ACDC has been developing plans to save the structure and preserve this much-loved cornerstone of Albany’s heritage.