Jayhawk State Theatre of Kansas

720 S.W. Jackson Street,
Topeka, KS 66601-1996

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In 1926, the Jayhawk Theatre opened as a movie and vaudeville palace. But after fifty years of showing films, the Jayhawk Theatre closed in 1976 and appeared to be gone for good. The Hotel Jayhawk, part of the entire complex, also closed shortly after the theater and was converted into the Jayhawk Tower office complex in 1982.

The Jayhawk Theatre was closed off from the office building and sat dormant for over a decade. In 1992, amid movements to demolish the theater and the entire building, preservationists sought a solution to block the planned destruction.

After forming a strong coalition in the private sector to save the Jayhawk, the Kansas State Legislature designated the Jayhawk as the official State Theatre of Kansas in 1993. Since that time, the theater has been undergoing renovations in preparations for its rebirth as a performing arts venue for Topeka.

The Jayhawk Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Recent comments (view all 20 comments)

Keith Wondra
Keith Wondra on April 21, 2007 at 9:02 am

I just took a tour and found out that they are in the process of going out to local businesses to get money.

Here is a photo of the interior in 2007: View link

Here is a photo of the neon sign that is on top of the Jayhawk Hotel in 2006: View link

Keith Wondra
Keith Wondra on April 21, 2007 at 9:12 am

Here are the original flickr links.
sign: View link

interior: View link

Keith Wondra
Keith Wondra on April 21, 2007 at 9:16 am

View link

View link

Keith Wondra
Keith Wondra on April 21, 2007 at 9:20 am

View link

View link

lostmemory
lostmemory on September 4, 2007 at 7:15 pm

A Kilgen theater organ opus 3614 size 3/9 style U020 was installed in the Jayhawk Theater in 1926.

lostmemory
lostmemory on May 7, 2008 at 11:52 am

Here is a 1938 photo of the Jayhawk Theater.

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on September 14, 2009 at 8:00 pm

The Jayhawk opened in August 1925 with seating listed at 1,344.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 21, 2010 at 3:00 am

There is an article about the Jayhawk in the September 4, 1926, issue of The Reel Journal.

spectrum
spectrum on November 13, 2010 at 10:55 am

The website has been stripped of all content except for the basic template. I wonder what’s happening…

0123456789
0123456789 on January 12, 2011 at 3:11 pm

Everything is expired in every link!

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