Address is wrong. As you can see from the picture, this was behind the post office. Must have been 910-912. That was originally the Sanderson Building, constructed between 1896 and 1900. The July 1916 Sanborn shows it ‘Gutted by Fire, Being Remodeled’ The post office was torn down in 1964, and this whole block is now covered by a really repulsive ‘modern’ one story thing, which looks like a depressing little mall.
Again, bad dates. This theater first appears on the 1916 map. It was in a narrow three story brick commercial building constructed between 1892 and 1896. The 1912 map shows it as a clothing store. This was demolished ages ago, and replaced by a dumpy little one story store from maybe the 1950s or ‘60s.
Address was 822-826 1st Ave S. The building was demolished many years ago. It never reopened after the 1909 fire. The 1912 map shows a building roughly the same size and height, but divided up into multiple storefronts, mostly facing 9th St. Probably an extensive remodel, but perhaps a replacement.
Bad dates on this one. The building was constructed between 1907 and 1912, and had a theater on the west side of the ground floor from the very beginning. It’s a three-story apartment building, quite deep. Attractive and in decent shape, but I didn’t take a picture for some reason. Current occupant of the theater space is a comic book store.
This theater is much older. It appears on the 1914 Sanborn. The building was built sometime around 1900 as a Masonic lodge, and they used the upstairs.
Need to rewrite the chronology of the entry. This opened Summer 1948, and burned in 1949 (twice?), 1957, and 1960. It seems to have closed after the 1957 fire. Looks like the name in the articles is always Palo Alto. References to the ‘Ruthven theater’ in those articles are clearly referring to a theater in Ruthven, not a name.
We should create an entry for the Legion theater, which looks like it opened in 1934, and burned in 1936. A new building (on the same site?) opened in 1937, and burned in 1947. There must have been a serial arsonist active here.
There’s a lot going on in these articles, which may refer to three different buildings, and definitely two. There is no Quonset style building remaining in town. The address does not exist. The current American Legion building is at 1602 Main. It looks like it’s an old commercial building given a very ugly sheet metal makeover. The 1933 map shows it as two stores, and has the address 406-408. The 200 block then is now the 1400 block, and never had a business of any kind. This should be listed as demolished. It sounds like it was destroyed in the 1960 fire.
The Leese building was constructed in 1925. It incorporated parts of an earlier three story opera house, which still appears on the Jan. 1925 Sanborn. It likely contained a theater from the very beginning.
There is no such address. Highest even 100 on the west end is 134, which quite obviously was not a theater. Going E, the highest even is 108, which belongs to a bank. 126 W Main is a possibility. It’s the right size and shape, but it does have an old fire siren on top, so it might have been municipal.
Falke’s theater was on the second floor. The building housed his implement and auto sales operations. By 1929 it was a dance hall, which still had a stage, by 1941 it had become part of the dealership. For whatever stupid reason, I did not take a picture of it, even though I walked past it.
The address is really confusing. I’m not sure how 8th St was decided on, but it can’t be right. There doesn’t seem to have ever been a Main St. What is now Central Ave was once called Washington. I can’t find a Tulip anywhere, either today or on the 1914 map, the most recent available online. Almost everything running N-S has been renamed and the numbered streets south of 1st St N once had people’s names. The numbered streets from 1st St N northwards always had numbers, only the N was added to distinguish them from their southern counterparts.
There is a later Sanborn of the town, but the LoC doesn’t have it scanned. You have been able to access the Iowa State collection before (never works for me), perhaps you can answer this.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Jan 5, 2024 at 7:14 pm
Look at the other building to see what you think, but a capacity of 200 for this one makes more sense to me.
I suggest the Casino opening in 1912 may have been in the Odd Fellows building on W Main. That was constructed in 1911, and the 1915 map shows a theater there. I’m creating a listing for that one. The only problem is that 750 seems very large for such a narrow structure. I wonder if we haven’t been confused by what is obviously a bogus address. There is also a mystery listing for a ‘Chiefton’ which I suspect is a misspelling of Chieftain. Perhaps that belongs to the large building at 117 N 5th (NOT 118)? The last possibility for the Casino of 750 seats is the old opera house, but that burned in 1939, and can’t have been around to rename in 1948.
All I can say at this point is that the address is definitely wrong, no matter what, and nothing on N 5th could have been a theater in 1912.
The history cannot be right, given the address. The 1915 map shows the ugly building containing the bar (uses a 112 address) as the city hall and fire station. There was a building to the north, but it was gone before 2009, and did not contain a theater in 1915. There is a large building across the street, which could perhaps have been a theater, but it does not appear on that map. I wish the American Classic Images website wasn’t dead, since that would make the ID very easy.
Address is wrong. As you can see from the picture, this was behind the post office. Must have been 910-912. That was originally the Sanderson Building, constructed between 1896 and 1900. The July 1916 Sanborn shows it ‘Gutted by Fire, Being Remodeled’ The post office was torn down in 1964, and this whole block is now covered by a really repulsive ‘modern’ one story thing, which looks like a depressing little mall.
Wrong listing, the Majestic was at 1018.
Wrong listing, the Majestic was at 1018.
Again, bad dates. This theater first appears on the 1916 map. It was in a narrow three story brick commercial building constructed between 1892 and 1896. The 1912 map shows it as a clothing store. This was demolished ages ago, and replaced by a dumpy little one story store from maybe the 1950s or ‘60s.
Address was 822-826 1st Ave S. The building was demolished many years ago. It never reopened after the 1909 fire. The 1912 map shows a building roughly the same size and height, but divided up into multiple storefronts, mostly facing 9th St. Probably an extensive remodel, but perhaps a replacement.
The NRHP listing for this calls it the Carter Building/Majestic Theatre. Says it was built in 1913, but it appears on the Dec. 1912 Sanborn.
Bad dates on this one. The building was constructed between 1907 and 1912, and had a theater on the west side of the ground floor from the very beginning. It’s a three-story apartment building, quite deep. Attractive and in decent shape, but I didn’t take a picture for some reason. Current occupant of the theater space is a comic book store.
Hopefully they’ll pull that repulsive sheet metal off.
This theater is much older. It appears on the 1914 Sanborn. The building was built sometime around 1900 as a Masonic lodge, and they used the upstairs.
Need to rewrite the chronology of the entry. This opened Summer 1948, and burned in 1949 (twice?), 1957, and 1960. It seems to have closed after the 1957 fire. Looks like the name in the articles is always Palo Alto. References to the ‘Ruthven theater’ in those articles are clearly referring to a theater in Ruthven, not a name.
We should create an entry for the Legion theater, which looks like it opened in 1934, and burned in 1936. A new building (on the same site?) opened in 1937, and burned in 1947. There must have been a serial arsonist active here.
There’s a lot going on in these articles, which may refer to three different buildings, and definitely two. There is no Quonset style building remaining in town. The address does not exist. The current American Legion building is at 1602 Main. It looks like it’s an old commercial building given a very ugly sheet metal makeover. The 1933 map shows it as two stores, and has the address 406-408. The 200 block then is now the 1400 block, and never had a business of any kind. This should be listed as demolished. It sounds like it was destroyed in the 1960 fire.
The Leese building was constructed in 1925. It incorporated parts of an earlier three story opera house, which still appears on the Jan. 1925 Sanborn. It likely contained a theater from the very beginning.
There is no such address. Highest even 100 on the west end is 134, which quite obviously was not a theater. Going E, the highest even is 108, which belongs to a bank. 126 W Main is a possibility. It’s the right size and shape, but it does have an old fire siren on top, so it might have been municipal.
Falke’s theater was on the second floor. The building housed his implement and auto sales operations. By 1929 it was a dance hall, which still had a stage, by 1941 it had become part of the dealership. For whatever stupid reason, I did not take a picture of it, even though I walked past it.
Thanks for firming up the dates!
Thanks to Ken Roe for providing the theater listings!
The address is really confusing. I’m not sure how 8th St was decided on, but it can’t be right. There doesn’t seem to have ever been a Main St. What is now Central Ave was once called Washington. I can’t find a Tulip anywhere, either today or on the 1914 map, the most recent available online. Almost everything running N-S has been renamed and the numbered streets south of 1st St N once had people’s names. The numbered streets from 1st St N northwards always had numbers, only the N was added to distinguish them from their southern counterparts.
That means the Casino is almost certainly the building at 117 N 5th. It’s certainly big enough, and does not appear on the 1915 map.
Despite driving right past this on my way out of town, I did not take a picture.
My thought as well. That was probably an informal storefront operation. 100 tops is what I’d guess.
There is a later Sanborn of the town, but the LoC doesn’t have it scanned. You have been able to access the Iowa State collection before (never works for me), perhaps you can answer this.
Look at the other building to see what you think, but a capacity of 200 for this one makes more sense to me.
I suggest the Casino opening in 1912 may have been in the Odd Fellows building on W Main. That was constructed in 1911, and the 1915 map shows a theater there. I’m creating a listing for that one. The only problem is that 750 seems very large for such a narrow structure. I wonder if we haven’t been confused by what is obviously a bogus address. There is also a mystery listing for a ‘Chiefton’ which I suspect is a misspelling of Chieftain. Perhaps that belongs to the large building at 117 N 5th (NOT 118)? The last possibility for the Casino of 750 seats is the old opera house, but that burned in 1939, and can’t have been around to rename in 1948.
All I can say at this point is that the address is definitely wrong, no matter what, and nothing on N 5th could have been a theater in 1912.
I suspect the address is wrong as well.
The history cannot be right, given the address. The 1915 map shows the ugly building containing the bar (uses a 112 address) as the city hall and fire station. There was a building to the north, but it was gone before 2009, and did not contain a theater in 1915. There is a large building across the street, which could perhaps have been a theater, but it does not appear on that map. I wish the American Classic Images website wasn’t dead, since that would make the ID very easy.