Owned and operated by George L Baker and the owner of The Baker Stock company. The building was originally build by John F Cordray in 1900. On October 6th 1901, Baker took over the the theater and renamed it to The Baker Theater from Metropolitan and it showed plays and musical acts before shutting down for a few weeks. The playhouse shut down for renovations and necessary repairs to make the space more habitable. It reopened on Thanksgiving day, Thursday November 28th 1901 with a contract from performers of the Wilber-Kerwin Opera Company. George L Baker was known for being a vaudeville performer and later became the mayor of Portland from 1917-1933. The theater showed musical acts, plays and vaudeville performances and later showed moving pictures at the playhouse. Some of the first films shown at The Baker Theater were boxing films. One of the first was the Wollaston-Moran boxing fight on July 27th 1911 and was promoted by specifying that the picture is clear and moments can be seen well. The theater was said to have closed in July 1910 but there is evidence that the theater continued past that date.
Interior of The Baker Theater. The entrance of has an awning and the lobby is shown with a staircase in it and sign “The Baker”. The main space has a large curtain with many seats and an upper level.