Capitol Theatre
231 E. Main Street,
Ottumwa,
IA
52501
231 E. Main Street,
Ottumwa,
IA
52501
2 people
favorited this theater
The Capitol Theatre was operating prior to 1941, and at that time was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidairy A.H. Blank. It was still open in 1950.
In the early-1980’s it was merged into the adjacent Capri Theatre, become the fifth screen for the Capri V Theatre.
Contributed by
Don Lewis / Billy Smith / Billy Holcomb
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
The Arcadia Publishing Company’s book Ottumwa has successive photos from 1915 and ca.1927 showing the Capitol Theatre’s building before and after it had became a theater. The Capitol and Capri were in separate but adjacent buildings, and operated as separate theaters for several decades before being combined under the Capri name.
AKA:
CAPRI V
Open ~1927-~1985? Can anyone verify the exact dates?
In 1927 showed Vitaphone Pictures
Owners:
1945 A.H. Blank Theaters (Controlled by Paramount Publix)
1955-1985 Central States Theater Corp. in the Paramount Building, Des Moines, Ia., Myron N. Blank, President, they had 70 theaters in Iowa and Nebraska.
Was on the corner and started out as a hotel. The Grand Ballroom was made into a theater with a balcony. In the early 80’s it was combined with the Capri Theater (former Ottumwa Theater) to become the Capri V. After the theaters closed they were sold to somebody who was going to restore the theaters but instead stripped out all the copper and other valuables, then disappeared! The building still has old hotel rooms in it.
More info and photos are always welcome.
ERROR!
OPEN 1927-2005
The Capitol was never known or operated as the Capri.
Are you sure, Don? The comments on this page and on that for the Capri V certainly imply or say directly that theaters were merged, and even the picture you posted of the Capitol looks like it was merged into the theater next door by virtue of the continuous red brick lower facade.
No doubt the two theater buildings merged. This doesn’t mean the Capitol was ever known or operated as the Capri.
The Capitol was in operation by the late 1920s, but no firm date for its opening has been established. The building was just a hotel with what looked like retail space on the ground floor in the 1915 photo, but the conversion of the ground floor to a theater had taken place by the time the ca.1927 photo was taken. It might have been converted any time during that period.
For me it’s a tossup whether or not the Capitol should have the aka Capri V. It did operate as part of the Capri V, but then the Capri V’s entrance was at the Capri Theatre’s address, not the Capitol’s address. In any case, one of the main functions of including the aka’s on theater pages is to facilitate searches of the site. Anybody who has found the Capri V page with a site search will read there that it incorporated the former Capitol, and the Capitol’s page is easy enough to find from that page. I can’t see that it would be either helpful or harmful to have Capri V as an aka on this page.
However, the Capitol became part of the Capri.
Once I find where I put my photos I will put some up here. I took some pics back in July 2008 of the front of the theater after they stripped off the sheet metal facade. I suspect even 4 years later it looks the same.
Until I can throw them up here, here is my flickr page with photos of the Capri V/Ottumwa/Capitol. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60993177@N00/sets/72157606188500182/