Pawnee Theatre

Harold M. Schoonover had launched the Mazda Theatre in 1914 in Aurora. Just after World War I, the rival Victory Theatre was opened in 1919 by C.M. Grosvenor on the East side of the Courthouse Square in downtown Aurora.

The Swanson family took over operation of the Victory Theatre and ramped it up with the installation of a Seeburg player piano to accompany silent films. They also had a co-op deal with the American Legion which produced shows on Mondays and Tuesdays.

In March of 1924, Schoonover bought the Liberty Theatre from his competitors. He refreshed the theatre after closing it for two months. It re-emerged as the East Side Theatre on May 30, 1924. A popular concept there was a weekly raffle on Tuesday nights where the lucky winner took home two dry mash poultry feeding hoppers.

The Depression challenged the city’s two-theatre operation model. Schoonover closed the East Side Theatre though was converted to an early-sound system. It received a new sound system and was reopened as the Pawnee Theatre in 1935. Schoonover re-acquired the theatre and kept it open when he gave the Mazda Theatre a Streamline Moderne style makeover. The Pawnee Theatre was then closed in 1937.

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