The Holly Theater was the second movie house to open in Medford. Construction of the building began in 1929 but was halted due to the Great Depression. Construction resumed in March 1930 and was completed later that year. The building was designed by Frank Chamberlain Clark, a Southern Oregon architect.
The Holly Theater hosted vaudeville and films. The 1,200-seat theater, large enough to accommodate ten percent of Medford's population when it was built, remained a premier performance venue into the 1970s, but its size was its downfall. The Holly was unable to compete against the smaller, more efficient theaters that were opening at the time, and it closed in 1986 like other downtown single-screen theaters across the country. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 as part of the Medford Downtown Historic District.