Majestic Theatre
216 W. 2nd Street,
Seymour,
IN
47274
216 W. 2nd Street,
Seymour,
IN
47274
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The Opera House took two years to construct between 1890 and 1892. The original opera house was constructed in red brick with a wooden-built clock tower. The tower extends from the ground level to a heigh of some 90ft and the huge clock with four faces (one in each direction) featured an 1890-built brass bell cast by the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland. The Seymour Opera House was renamed the Majestic Theatre in 1908.
During the vaudeville and early movie heyday, Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Eagleston became prominent names in the Illinois theater business. The Eaglestons bought the Majestic Theatre in early-1911.
Right after the Majestic Theatre closed for the final time in July 1966, the theater businesses in Seymour received struggles. The only indoor theater remaining, the Vondee Theatre, was a seasonal-only theater from October to April at the time (which began doing that in 1959), while the Stardust was the theater for April to October. People who want to watch movies indoors must head to Columbus for a time. That all changed when the Vondee Theatre reopened back as an all-season indoor theater on October 4, 1967.
The Majestic was on West Second Street, not East Second. Seymour converted to the Philadelphia numbering system at some point, and the Majestic’s modern address would be approximately 216 W. Second. A few landmarks recognizable from the vintage photos on the photo page can still be seen on that block in Google’s street view. The Majestic was just west of the still-standing Masonic Temple. The site is now occupied by a modern building and its parking lot.
I have come upon information which states that the Seymour Opera House was constructed in 1890 and became the Majestic in 1913. It was then demolished in 1966. I have uploaded a postcard image of Opera House Row and the Majestic awaiting destruction as well as an additional image of the Opera House with the tower. Not clear if the tower survived to the bitter end.