State Theater
326 Houston Street,
Manhattan,
KS
66502
326 Houston Street,
Manhattan,
KS
66502
1 person
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The Marshall Theater was opened in 1909. In 1920, it became the first movie theatre to be operated by Glen W. Dickinson Sr, which led to the foundation of the Dickinson Theatres chain. It was renamed Dickinson Theater. It then became the State Theater by 1941, when it was listed with 808 seats.
Still listed in the 1955 Film Daily Yearbook with 779 seats. It now operates as a discount store.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Looking at the Google street view, there is a Marshall Theater building right about where 326 Houston Street is. Just a couple of doors down from 322 Houston, which is a furniture store.
From Manhattan a postcard view of the Marshall Theater.
Agape Family Church occupies the building entrance on the West side of the building. Not sure if the building has multiple tenants, but sure looks like it could.
Dickinson Theatres says their first movie theatre opened in 1920 in Manhattan, Kansas and was the Marshall Theatre. See info here http://www.dtmovies.com/about.htm
The Riley County Historical Society says “1910 – Marshall Theatre opens downtown.” This reference is to downtown Manhattan, Ks.
The Dickinson site says, “"1920, company founder Glen W. Dickinson, Sr quit the family business –a Ford dealership in Brookfield, Missouri specializing in tractors—to purchase a small two-screen theatre in a booming agricultural college town. The Dickinson Marshall Theatre in Manhattan, Kansas was christened in November 1920 as the first of many Dickinson Theatres.”
It appears Dickinson bought the Marshall Theatre.
A document about historical resources in Manhattan, prepared for the National Register of Historic Places, says that the Marshall Theatre was Manhattan’s first purpose-built movie house, and that it was originally designed by Carl Boller. This project was undertaken in 1909, a decade before the firm Boller Brothers was formed, though Robert Boller was working in his older brother’s office as a draftsman by this time.
The list of known Boller Brothers theaters says that Boller Brothers did additional work on this theater in 1929 and 1950, but doesn’t reveal the extent of these projects.
Boxoffice of August 19, 1939, calls this house the Dickinson Theatre. It must have been renamed the State sometime between 1939 and 1941.