The Wealthy Theatre was constructed in 1911 for vaudeville and live theater, and later became a neighborhood movie house. It served during World War I as a warehouse for the Michigan Aircraft Company, and in the 1960s, offered the only regional venue for foreign films. It closed in the late 1970s and stood empty, decaying for more than 25 years before the South East Economic Development neighborhood association launched a capital campaign to fund its restoration. The Theatre re-opened in 1998 as a community arts center and heralded a transformation of the entire Wealthy Street business district.
