A Main Street landmark since the 1920s, the Princess Theatre, later renamed the Edmonds Theater, has been part of the Edmonds community for generations. It began as a more modest movie house called the Union Theater across the street, originally owned by Edmonds city father Fred A. Fourtner, and changed names and owners several times before Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Berry purchased it in 1921 and rechristened it the Princess Theatre. With plans for a first-class movie house in Edmonds, they contracted in early 1923 with local businessman and future Edmonds City Council member John McGinnis to build a new theater across the street, resulting in the art deco building that still stands. Its grand opening in November 1923 included speeches by local dignitaries and musical performances by the Edmonds Band, and it quickly became an Edmonds landmark that helped position the community as a center for arts and culture. In 1929 it brought Edmonds audiences Broadway Melody, the first talkie to win the Academy Award for best picture. During hard economic times, ticket prices were reduced in 1932 from 32¢ to 25¢, yet business remained good, and in 1938 the theater was updated with new seats, carpets, projection equipment, and sound equipment. After Helen Berry died in 1941, Mr. and Mrs. Lionel Brown, who had been associated with operating the theater since the early 1920s, continued to run it until 1952, adding a snack bar and modernizing the sound and projection equipment during their tenure. The historic 252-seat movie house is among the last remaining independent single-screen movie houses in the state and remains an enduring Edmonds institution and a link to a bygone era of cinematic grandeur.