Fox Theater
831 Avenue G,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
831 Avenue G,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
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Joe, thanks for the information. I will add that to all of the history materials that we have for the Strand/Fox.
The monthly Stone & Webster Journal had the following item in the Fort Madison section of its July, 1919 issue:
The August 11, 1928, issue of Motion Picture Times published remarks from the manager and publicity director of the Strand and Orpheum Theatres in Fort Madison, accompanied by a small photo of the entrance to the Strand looking as though it had been decorated to publicize a particular movie.With the support of Fort Madison Main Street and Main Street Iowa, we have received a grant and we will start restoration of the marquee in the spring of 2012. In addition we will be doing additional roof repairs.
Thanks to all for your continued interest in the Fox Theater.
If you are interested in seeing the Fox inside and out, please feel free to look at an electronic tour that I have built by using the attached link.
http://home.earthlink.net/~photod1/Fox/index.html
Larry Wright
My Mom lived in Fort Madison, Iowa during the 1940’s-early 1950’s. An avid moviegoer, she mentioned the Strand frequently. It appeared to be her movie theatre of choice. Thanks for the information about it.
It might be impossible for a theater this size to show films continuously in a town the size of Fort Madison and still be able to stay open. Down the road in Keokuk their old theater has multi purpose use – plays, conventions, etc. There is no reason why the Fox could not be used this way, with maybe two or three films per month, but only if there is deep community involvement. Since the state prison is about a half mile away, a re-opening of the theater with a mini prison film festival might draw in the curiosity seekers and give the venue a grand re-opening.
According to the Official Website the Fox is closed.
We have had the Fox Theater open for the past 15 months. We have owned the Fox for the past 7 years. After supporting the Fox for those many years without any outside financial support we finally realized it is time for a change. For the Fox to be the “lynchpin” you reference, the community needs to step in and help. A non-profit 501-C3 organization line the Main Street group would be a option. If you would like to know what is really happening with the Fox, please ask.
Larry Wright
Going into www.fortmadisonmovies.com it looks like the Fox has been closed after 5-6 weeks. I just was in Fort Madison. It has a number of older historic homes and buildings. If the downtown area ever revitalizes, the Fox could have been a lynchpin. It’s too bad the Wrights couldn’t make a go of it. They certainly cut their losses quickly.
The remodeling and renaming of the Strand took place in 1950. Boxoffice of July 15 that year said that the $50,000 project was scheduled to begin that day. A small photo of the remodeled Fox appeared in Boxoffice of Ocotber 6, 1951.
A Strand Theatre in Fort Madison was mentioned in the July 6, 1929, issue of Movie Age as one of several Iowa house recently installing Western Electric sound equipment.
Photos of the Fox Theatre in Fort Maidson.
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The Fox Theater, Fort Madison, Iowa is open for business. “Iron Man” will be playing with a special midnight showing on May 7(real early morning Friday). The Fox has a 24 hour show line (319)372-0303 and in addition a web page www.fortmadisonmovies.com offering movie and theater information. We will also be showing “The Last Song” this weekend.
Please stop by and see us if you are in town…..
Trudy and Larry Wright
Owners/Operators
(913)748-5700
It doesn’t look like this theater.
This is another 1982 photo. The State perhaps was another name for the Orpheum, or was a separate theater. It’s not listed.
http://tinyurl.com/pleppe
Here are two more photos from 1982:
Photo1
Photo2
1982 photo of the Fox Theatre.
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The Fox Theatre was purchased in 1983 by Peterson Theatres Of Waverly Iowa from Central States Theatres of Des Moines Iowa. With a lot of scrubing, cleaning painting ect we then installed new seating, projection equipment including a platter and new sound.It was reopened on christmas day 1983.
Here is a 2008 photo.
Screens should be two.
This was the Fox in 2005.
The most recent name of this theater was the Fox Theater. It was operating until June 2008 under that name. Website. Fox Theater: 831 Avenue G, Fort Madison, IA, 52627