Benjiman I. William Fey

Owner of two beloved movie theatres in Renton. Benjiman Fey was born on June 4, 1874, in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he later worked as a barkeeper and stock keeper. He married Lillie Huppert, who gave birth to their son, Erwin J. Fey, on August 13, 1900. By 1920, the family was living in Seattle and Ben was managing the Madison Theatre on Capitol Hill at Madison and Broadway, where Erwin also worked as a helper. In 1924, he sold his interest in the Madison and bought two theatres in Renton. The Roxy Theatre, located at 504 S. 3rd Street, was an art-deco landmark, with an eight-sided dome in the ceiling and staircases with sweeping chrome railings. Inside the auditorium were art-deco light fixtures in the shape of four-point stars, which would dim to almost nothing, leaving just enough of a glow to silhouette the chrome stars on the ceiling. Even the stairwells had magnificent art-deco chandeliers of slim, stately milk glass columns with stacks of little chrome trumpets on top. It is well-remembered by many as one of their fondest childhood memories. The Renton Theatre was also located on S. 3rd Street, just one block up from the Roxy, but is less remembered, perhaps because it had to be demolished after it was damaged in the 1965 earthquake. Ben, who also built the Roxy Apartments and Erwin, operated the two theatres from 1924 until Ben's death on December 7, 1938.