Fox Theatre
18 E. First Street,
Hutchinson,
KS
67501
18 E. First Street,
Hutchinson,
KS
67501
2 people
favorited this theater
The Fox Theatre opened on June 8, 1931.
Contributed by
Paul Salley
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 25 comments)
The architect for the restoration of the Fox Theatre was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.
National Register of Historic Places registration form
This is another photo of the Fox.
I found the following on a blog about the Fox and the era of the movie palaces. Good reading.
The Fox has become a popular meeting place and is available to rent. The theatre seats just over 1,200 and is handicapped accessible. Hutchinson’s Historic Fox Theatre is part of a national heritage. It isn’t just a theatre, it is a movie palace, part of a social, architectural, and entertainment movement that saw its’ heyday between 1915 and 1945. Movie palaces were intended to showcase and reflect the movie industry itself; they were intended to be larger than life. And the history of the Fox is indeed larger than life!
Boller Brothers built the Fox and upon completion, Hutchinson saw a party the likes of which had never been seen before. Local citizens saw the need for a new theatre and had invested $400,000 to build a state-of-the art movie theatre/vaudeville house. It was the largest movie palace between Kansas City and Denver. The Fox helped the community shake the depression dust off of its feet with a weeklong celebration leading up to the June 8, 1931 grand opening.
The theatre stood empty between 1985 and 1990 when Hutchinson’s Historic Theatre, Inc., a non-profit corporation, purchased it. On January 30, 1999, we gathered again to celebrate the rebirth of the Fox as a regional center for the performing arts following a $4.5 million restoration. This began a new era and new vision for the theatre â€" one that will continue to celebrate a rich heritage and enrich the lives of future generations.
Here are two 1983 photos and one from 1988:
http://tinyurl.com/qeqt4p
http://tinyurl.com/q6bsky
http://tinyurl.com/qyrasx
2010 photo of the Fox Theatre courtesy of Pete Zarria.
View link
Another photo of the Fox Theatre courtesy Keith Wondra.
View link
This link will take you to photos of the Fox. The first is an exterior from 2005 during a show storm. The others or interior photos.
View link
Thanks for the great photos, Chuck.
Oh my gosh- I am 83 years old and the Fox was a center stage event in my life as a child growing up and as a young woman and as a young wife. Thank you for allowing me to relive a lot of memories by seeing this building again. The Carmel Corn Shop was two doors down from the Fox and we always stopped there before going to the (show). I can remember going with my parents when I was about four or five years old and my husand and I would always go when we were a young married couple. I can remember walking up that beautiful staircase to sit in the balcony. Thank you so much for this.