It is a flat-roofed one-story masonry movie theater, built in a simplified Moderne style – one of the few buildings in the area to feature this type of architecture.[3] In 1940, the building was commissioned by Mary Hayes Davis, a newspaper publisher and businesswoman who operated a chain of movie theaters in south Florida and the Lake Okeechobee region.[3] It was her second theater in Clewiston with that name.[3] Davis had opened the first Dixie Crystal Theatre at the corner of Sugarland Highway and Central Avenue in 1934.[3] The theaters got their name from the local sugar industry product.[4]
The architect of the new Dixie Crystal Theatre was Chester A. Cone of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, who also designed the Prince Theatre in Pahokee.[3][5] The builder and contractor was Earl Anderson.[6] It is 45 by 93 feet (14 m × 28 m) in plan.[3]
The Clewiston Theater was integrated peacefully on July 20, 1964, when five African American youths attended an evening show there for the first time.[7] A Hendry County sheriff's deputy and a Clewiston policeman were present for the duration of the film.[7]
The theater closed briefly in 2011, but soon reopened, featuring live bands, first-run movies, and independent films.[8] By early 2015, the Clewiston Theater had closed.[8] As of 2023, the theatre has been converted into a dentist office.
