Orpheum Theatre
326 Delaware Street,
Leavenworth,
KS
66048
326 Delaware Street,
Leavenworth,
KS
66048
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Orpheum Theatre at Leavenworth suffered a gas explosion and fire in January, 1909, with the loss estimated at $35,000. The theater was either repaired or rebuilt, and was open at least into the early-1920’s when it was being operated by C.F. Mensing. Sometime around 1917, a two-manual Moller organ was installed.
Additional information about the Orpheum Theatre would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Joe Vogel
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Joe, wasn’t this also aperated by Durwood when it closed, I found a listing of former Durwood Theatres and both the Lyceum and the Orpheum is on that listing for 1949.
I am distantly related to C.F. Mensing. Through my research I found that he moved to Florida in the mid- to late-1920s. I always wondered if he held interest in any of the businesses he had in Leavenworth. He died in Miami, Florida in early 1959.
Chuck: Mike Rivest has the Orpheum listed as a Dubinsky Brothers house from 1930 to 1935, and a Durwood house from 1935 to 1950.
kath2000: What little I know of C.F. Mensing I obtained from a few online sources. A brief biography in a history of Leavenworth County, published in 1921 was the primary source. An item in a 1924 issue of The Reel Journal named him as still being the operator of the Orpheum and Lyceum at that time. He was mentioned under the name Carl Mensing in a 1926 issue of the same publication. I also came across a patent for a golf club, filed August 1, 1927, by Carl F. Mensing of Leavenworth, Kansas, and granted March 13, 1928, so he must have still been in Kansas in late 1927. I’ve found no later references to him.
The Orpheum Theatre in Leavenworth is included on this list of known Boller Brothers theaters as a 1909 project. It has been demolished. A history of Leavenworth published in 1921 said that the seating capacity of the Orpheum at that time was 1000.
A 2/8, manual/rank, keyboards/sets of pipes, Moller Theater Pipe Organ, Opus 2578 was installed in the theater in 1919. It came from the Moller Pipe Organ Company in Hagerstown, Maryland and cost $4,350.00. Does anyone know what happened to the organ?
More info and photos are always welcome.
A late arrival to Leavenworth, Circa 1976-77: Boxoffice
Tinseltoes, I have submitted info for the Landing 4 Theatres. They are still in operation.