The 300-seat Apex Theatre is first listed at Lumberton in the 1942 FDY, along with a 200-seat Royal Theatre and a 250-seat Ladner Theatre which is listed as closed. The 1941 yearbook had listed the Ladner, the Royal, and a Royal Portable Theatre. One local reminiscing on a Facebook page recalls seeing “Mad Max” and “The Amityville Horror” at the Apex, so it operated at least as late as 1979.
Another Facebook comment says that the theater is now occupied by a church called His Place Worship Center. The church’s address is 209 W. Main Avenue. Google street view shows a very modern front section on the building, but the view along the side shows an older structure farther back, which was surely the theater’s auditorium.
I wonder if this house could have been the Princess Theatre? This web page lists movies being shown at the Princess Theatre in Howard, Kansas, as published in the January 29, 1914 issue of the Howard Courant.
Howard also once had a five and ten cent movie house called the Star Theatre, but all I’ve found out about it is that it once had a manager named C. E. Shull. As far as I’ve been able to discover, Star and Princess were the only two theater names used in Howard prior to the 1925 opening of Crook’s Opera house. Of course we can’t rule out the possibility that Star and Princess were both name used by this house at different times.
I’ve had no luck discovering anything about the Aer Dome, or the anonymous theater across the street, but I did find that the town’s later theater was on this same block. This web page has a bit about it, and a rather dark and blurry photo. It was next door south of the two-story brick building currently housing the Bear Den bar, and was built in 1925 as Crook’s Opera House, replacing an upstairs house of the same name that had burned. It was later called the Howard Theatre, and in 1940 was remodeled and renamed the Plaza Theatre.
A Facebook page for Ash Grove has a thread mentioning the Gaiety Theatre on this post. I also came across an item in the January 11, 1930 issue of The Billboard saying that the Gaiety Theatre at Ash Grove had been remodeled and reopened. The Gaiety doesn’t appear in the FDY until the 1932 edition, when it had 250 seats. The 200-seat Grand was also still listed that year.
The March 16, 1959 issue of Boxoffice said that John Cawlfield had recently had wide screen equipment installed in his theater at Ash Grove and would present his first CinemaScope feature that week. The May 23, 1960 issue of the same journal said that Cawlfield was discontinuing unprofitable operations on Tuesday and Friday nights, and would henceforth open the theater only on Wednesday and Saturday.
The Regent is mentioned in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review which said the house had just been purchased by Messrs. F. W. Meade, Jr. and Sr., who had also acquired the Cozy and Elite Theatres of Pratt, Kansas.
The October 30, 1926 issue ofMoving Picture World said that the Regent Theatre at Eureka, Kansas was being remodeled.
This item from the December 18, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had to have been about the New Aristo Theatre (Gaulbert Avenue was formerly called A Street.) There is an interesting bit of information about Architects Joseph & Joseph at the end: “New House at Second and A Streets.
“Joseph & Joseph, Louisville architects, have applied to the building department for a permit for the erection of the new moving picture theater at Second and A streets, and it is now certain that the new theater will shortly be in operation. The permit will probably be issued this week and calls for a theater to seat 750 people, to be built at a cost of approximately $15,000 for the building proper, without estimating the cost of heating, lighting or ventilation installations, which will bring the total cost of the house up to about $25,000. An interesting feature of the plans for this theater are that it is the thirty-eighth theater which the architects have built during the past few years, showing that the concern is obtaining a monopoly on this business in Louisville.”
The Western Plaza Theatre was earlier than I’d thought. An article about it appeared in the December 18, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World. It began thusly: “ON JULY 31 the Western Hills Amusement Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, threw open for business the doors of a new moving picture theater which is very nearly the handsomest in Cincinnati, and this is the more significant in view of the fact that the house is one of the numerous and rapidly increasing class located at a considerable distance from the heart of the city, in a residence suburb. Price Hill, whose location suggested the name of the company and of the theater, is the suburb in question, and the new house, which is known as the Western Plaza, is easily the most luxurious and complete house in that part of the city.”
The article goes on to note many features of the design, which was by local firm Zettel & Rapp. The whole article can be read on this page at Internet Archive.
Historic Detroit.com says that the Fox Washington Theatre was designed by Frederick T. Barcroft, though it was for many years mistakenly attributed to Arland Johnson.
This was one of eight theaters designed by C. Howard Crane that had so far been built for John Kunsky, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World.
The Garden was one of eight theaters that had so far been built for John Kunsky, all designed by C. Howard Crane, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World
The December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World listed the eight Detroit theaters so far built for John Kunsky, including the Empress, and said that all eight had been designed by C. Howard Crane.
This web page from the Chisholm Trail Museum has a history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales. The Regent was opened by Charles W. Ash as the Ashland Theatre on April 5, 1921. In June, 1928 the Ashland and the Majestic Theatre came under the control of the Miller Show Company, who operated a regional chain of theaters featuring movies produced by William Fox’s studio. Following Mr. Fox’s bankruptcy in the early 1930s, this company was reorganized as Fox Midwest Theatres, affiliated with the reorganized 20th Century Fox studio.
Soon after Miller’s acquisition, the Ashland Theatre was closed for major remodeling, which included increasing the rake of the auditorium and reseating in a semi-circular pattern so every seat faced the center of the screen. A Robert Morton organ replaced the Wurlitzer which had been installed in 1924. The house was reopened as the Regent on September 3, 1928. Sound was installed the next year, with the first show on April 3, 1929. Miller Show and its successor Fox Midwest operated the Regent until March, 1959, after which it was operated by a series of independent owners.
Accirding to the history of Wellington’s theaters on this web page, the theater at 106 S. Washington Avenue was opened by Ted Jocelyn as the Edison Electric Theater on September 13, 1907. The show was a great success, and the landlord, a Mr. Savage, grew envious and evicted Mr. Jocelyn and began operating the house himself in June, 1908, renaming it the Pioneer Picture Theater.
In 1910, Savage sold the house to the partnership of Clayton and Buford, who were already operating the Majestic Theater. They renamed the Pioneer Isis, and it continued to operate for more than a decade. The closure of the Isis by 1923 was probably a consequence of the opening of the much larger Ashland Theater in April, 1921.
The Majestic Theatre did not become the Ashland, according to a quite thorough history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales, published in 1921 and available on this web page provided by Wellington’s Chisholm Trail Museum.
The Majestic opened as the Haligraph Theatre (named for owners Dr. Halliday and Mr. Graff) in August, 1909. New owners renamed it the Majestic in early 1910. In 1928 both the Ashland Theatre, which had opened in 1921, and the Majestic came under the control of the Miller Show Corporation, operators of the regional Fox theaters.
They remodeled and reopened the Ashland as the Fox Regent Theatre in 1928, converting it for sound in 1929. The Majestic continued to operate as a silent house into late 1929, with shows only on Fridays and Saturdays. In December, 1929, an article announced plans to remodel the Majestic, but they appear never to have come to fruition, and advertisements for the house simply vanished from the local paper.
The September 4, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World reported that the Jefferson Theatre in Goshen had been sold by its creditors, the Elkhart Trust Company, who had foreclosed on the house in 1914. The original investors, who had mortgaged the building after the $70,000 rebuilding in 1907, had defaulted and lost most of their investment. Charles J. Allardt, of South Bend, bought the Jefferson for the bargain price of between $30,000 and $35,000. He planned to reopen the theater as a combination house, with continuous shows of vaudeville and movies. The Allardt circuit was still operating the Jefferson at least as late as 1920.
The 1907 Sanborn map of Kansas City shows the People’s Theatre at 640 Minnesota Avenue. Sadly, the building has since been demolished.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he People’s theater of Kansas City which has been closed for a year, will open September 11 under new management. It will be known hereafter as the Columbian.” Most likely it had become part of the Columbian Amusement Company, which operated a circuit of vaudeville and burlesque houses in the region at least into the mid-1920s.
Operation as a live venue could account for the absence of the house from the 1914-1915 AMPD. It isn’t listed in the 1926 FDY either, though I suppose it could have operated under a different name by then. The building was eventually converted for retail use, as a photo from the 1960s shows a men’s clothing store in part of it, and the modernized façade looks like it might have dated from the 1940s or early 1950s.
This item, from the January 8, 1916 issue of The American Contractor mentions theater owner F. H. Graff, and the timing fits the known history of the Grand Theatre: “Moving Picture Theater, Estherville, Ia. Archt. J. E. Nason, 622 Corn Exchange bldg., Minneapolis. Owner F. H. Graff, Estherville. Contr., Ganley Constr. Co. Plymouth bldg. Excavating. Brk. Gen. contr. desires bids on plastering, ptg. elec. work.” We currently have five other theaters listed as the work of architect Joseph E. Nason.
There is a mention of the Pearl Theatre in the October 6, 1917 Moving Picture World: “Newton, Kan.—The Pearl theater has been purchased by H. E. Herbert, former owner of the Royal theater at Newton. He is one of the pioneer moving picture men of the town.”
Mr. Herbert was also the subject of this item from the March 20, 1913 issue of MPW: “NEIGHBORLY PICTURE MAN
‘Mr. H. E. Herbert, Newton, Kan., has for several months been looking forward to opening his show in his new building about the first of March. But because Mr. Herbert has a great deal of 'the milk of human kindness,’ and other kinds of unselfishness and fellow-feeling in his nature, he will not get into it until April 1. The explanation is well known to his friends in Newton, Kan., and is the kind of story that is a pleasure to circulate. Mr. Herbert’s theater building was being
erected by a contractor who was also working at the same time on a new store building for a hardware merchant. The hardware man’s store was burned and he was left without a suitable place in which to do business. Mr. Herbert immediately instructed the contractor to expend all his time and energies on the merchant’s store and let his go temporarily."
I haven’t been able to determine which theater Mr. Herbert had under construction in 1913. He owned the Royal for a time, but that wasn’t built until 1914 or 1915, so the 1913 project had to be some other house.
The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Newton, Kas.—J. A. Miller of Ottawa will erect an air-dome in Newton, which will be on a circuit with eleven other towns, as follows: Excelsior Springs, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Emporia, Salina, Hutchinson, Wichita, Winfield, Arkansas City and Ottawa. The season will open about May 25 and continue until September 25.”
Are we sure of the 1914 opening for this house? The January 2, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had this item: “NEWTON, KAN.—N. P. Nielson, 810 North 7th street, is preparing plans for a one and two-story moving picture theater, 50 by 150 feet. Lessee, T. H. McManus.” MPW’s report was a bit late, as the same project had been noted in the November 25, 1914 issue of Western Contractor with the notation “work under way.” It might have been completed before the end of 1914, though early 1915 seems as likely.
Both the 755-seat Andrews Theatre and the 816-seat Strand Theatre, the only two houses listed at Salamanca, were listed as part of the Schine Circuit in the 1926 FDY.
The August 2, 1950 issue of The Exhibitor said this: “In Vandalia, Ill., the Tanner Drive-In Theatres Corporation, Pana, Ill., opened its Vandalia Drive-In. It accommodates 500 cars.”
The August 16 issue of the same journal had another item, with more information about the Tanner Circuit: “In Vandalia, Ill., Mayor Cliff Rassler participated on behalf of the city in the formal grand opening of the Tanner Drive-In just off New Route 40. Herman Tanner, who resides in Vandalia, operates the circuit’s Liberty and Lincoln.
“The circuit also has a drive-in at Pana, Ill., at the east end of East Third street and like the local drive-in is of 500-car capacity. The Tanners also operate the Roseland and Eagle, Pana, and the Palace, Nokomis, Ill.”
We have the wrong opening year for this house. This web page, which has a brief history of the house, a couple of photos, and several ads, says that it opened in April, 1920. Architects were C. C. and A. L. Thayer. An item about the proposed house appeared in the August 2, 1919 issue of Exhibitors Herald
“Newcastle, Pa, to have $225,000 Film House
“NEWCASTLE, PA.— The West Penn Photoplay company has just announced the details of a new theatre to be built on North Mercer Street at a cost of $225,000.00. The plans, now in the hands of the architects, have just been made public. January 1, 1920, will mark the opening of the new house, it is claimed by C. C. Thayer, the architect, who toured the country inspecting the leading theatres in order that the best and
most up-to-date features might be incorporated.
“The building will measure 60 by 160 feet, will seat 1600 people, and is equipped with every comfort and convenience that can be installed. A contest soon to be opened will give the public an opportunity to christen the playhouse.”
This house was later known as the Princess Theatre. This page from a Kansas genealogy site has descriptions of Salina businesses taken from a booklet published in the 1910s (no exact date is provided) and one is C. A. Thacher’s Princess Theatre, 156 N. Santa Fe Avenue. Although the booklet is undated, the February 17, 1912 issue of The Billboard makes reference to “Carl A. Thacher, manager of Princess Theatre, Salina.”
If you check Google’s street view of this theater you can see that the auditorium is in a Quonset structure attached to the back of what looks like an older commercial building. As for the sequence of events, the fire that destroyed the Liberty Theatre was reported in the August 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. The item said that the town would not be without movies for long though, as the new theater being built there by Vern Powell was expected to open within the next two months.
An item in the June 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice reported that ground had been broken in Mabton for a new, 400-seat house that was expected to open on July 15. The owner’s name was mistakenly given as Dowell rather than Powell, and the July 15 opening date was hilariously overoptimistic, but the item does show that the new theater was planned quite some time before the August fire.
Incidentally, the Mabton Theatre, not the Liberty, is listed in the 1945 FDY, though it was listed as closed. Perhaps it was renamed Liberty after reopening. In 1945 it had 230 seats, as opposed to the 364 listed for the Mabton Theatre in the 1951 year book.
The 300-seat Apex Theatre is first listed at Lumberton in the 1942 FDY, along with a 200-seat Royal Theatre and a 250-seat Ladner Theatre which is listed as closed. The 1941 yearbook had listed the Ladner, the Royal, and a Royal Portable Theatre. One local reminiscing on a Facebook page recalls seeing “Mad Max” and “The Amityville Horror” at the Apex, so it operated at least as late as 1979.
Another Facebook comment says that the theater is now occupied by a church called His Place Worship Center. The church’s address is 209 W. Main Avenue. Google street view shows a very modern front section on the building, but the view along the side shows an older structure farther back, which was surely the theater’s auditorium.
I wonder if this house could have been the Princess Theatre? This web page lists movies being shown at the Princess Theatre in Howard, Kansas, as published in the January 29, 1914 issue of the Howard Courant.
Howard also once had a five and ten cent movie house called the Star Theatre, but all I’ve found out about it is that it once had a manager named C. E. Shull. As far as I’ve been able to discover, Star and Princess were the only two theater names used in Howard prior to the 1925 opening of Crook’s Opera house. Of course we can’t rule out the possibility that Star and Princess were both name used by this house at different times.
I’ve had no luck discovering anything about the Aer Dome, or the anonymous theater across the street, but I did find that the town’s later theater was on this same block. This web page has a bit about it, and a rather dark and blurry photo. It was next door south of the two-story brick building currently housing the Bear Den bar, and was built in 1925 as Crook’s Opera House, replacing an upstairs house of the same name that had burned. It was later called the Howard Theatre, and in 1940 was remodeled and renamed the Plaza Theatre.
A Facebook page for Ash Grove has a thread mentioning the Gaiety Theatre on this post. I also came across an item in the January 11, 1930 issue of The Billboard saying that the Gaiety Theatre at Ash Grove had been remodeled and reopened. The Gaiety doesn’t appear in the FDY until the 1932 edition, when it had 250 seats. The 200-seat Grand was also still listed that year.
The March 16, 1959 issue of Boxoffice said that John Cawlfield had recently had wide screen equipment installed in his theater at Ash Grove and would present his first CinemaScope feature that week. The May 23, 1960 issue of the same journal said that Cawlfield was discontinuing unprofitable operations on Tuesday and Friday nights, and would henceforth open the theater only on Wednesday and Saturday.
The Regent is mentioned in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review which said the house had just been purchased by Messrs. F. W. Meade, Jr. and Sr., who had also acquired the Cozy and Elite Theatres of Pratt, Kansas.
The October 30, 1926 issue ofMoving Picture World said that the Regent Theatre at Eureka, Kansas was being remodeled.
This item from the December 18, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had to have been about the New Aristo Theatre (Gaulbert Avenue was formerly called A Street.) There is an interesting bit of information about Architects Joseph & Joseph at the end: “New House at Second and A Streets.
“Joseph & Joseph, Louisville architects, have applied to the building department for a permit for the erection of the new moving picture theater at Second and A streets, and it is now certain that the new theater will shortly be in operation. The permit will probably be issued this week and calls for a theater to seat 750 people, to be built at a cost of approximately $15,000 for the building proper, without estimating the cost of heating, lighting or ventilation installations, which will bring the total cost of the house up to about $25,000. An interesting feature of the plans for this theater are that it is the thirty-eighth theater which the architects have built during the past few years, showing that the concern is obtaining a monopoly on this business in Louisville.”
The Western Plaza Theatre was earlier than I’d thought. An article about it appeared in the December 18, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World. It began thusly: “ON JULY 31 the Western Hills Amusement Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, threw open for business the doors of a new moving picture theater which is very nearly the handsomest in Cincinnati, and this is the more significant in view of the fact that the house is one of the numerous and rapidly increasing class located at a considerable distance from the heart of the city, in a residence suburb. Price Hill, whose location suggested the name of the company and of the theater, is the suburb in question, and the new house, which is known as the Western Plaza, is easily the most luxurious and complete house in that part of the city.”
The article goes on to note many features of the design, which was by local firm Zettel & Rapp. The whole article can be read on this page at Internet Archive.
Historic Detroit.com says that the Fox Washington Theatre was designed by Frederick T. Barcroft, though it was for many years mistakenly attributed to Arland Johnson.
This was one of eight theaters designed by C. Howard Crane that had so far been built for John Kunsky, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World.
The Garden was one of eight theaters that had so far been built for John Kunsky, all designed by C. Howard Crane, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World
The December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World listed the eight Detroit theaters so far built for John Kunsky, including the Empress, and said that all eight had been designed by C. Howard Crane.
This web page from the Chisholm Trail Museum has a history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales. The Regent was opened by Charles W. Ash as the Ashland Theatre on April 5, 1921. In June, 1928 the Ashland and the Majestic Theatre came under the control of the Miller Show Company, who operated a regional chain of theaters featuring movies produced by William Fox’s studio. Following Mr. Fox’s bankruptcy in the early 1930s, this company was reorganized as Fox Midwest Theatres, affiliated with the reorganized 20th Century Fox studio.
Soon after Miller’s acquisition, the Ashland Theatre was closed for major remodeling, which included increasing the rake of the auditorium and reseating in a semi-circular pattern so every seat faced the center of the screen. A Robert Morton organ replaced the Wurlitzer which had been installed in 1924. The house was reopened as the Regent on September 3, 1928. Sound was installed the next year, with the first show on April 3, 1929. Miller Show and its successor Fox Midwest operated the Regent until March, 1959, after which it was operated by a series of independent owners.
Accirding to the history of Wellington’s theaters on this web page, the theater at 106 S. Washington Avenue was opened by Ted Jocelyn as the Edison Electric Theater on September 13, 1907. The show was a great success, and the landlord, a Mr. Savage, grew envious and evicted Mr. Jocelyn and began operating the house himself in June, 1908, renaming it the Pioneer Picture Theater.
In 1910, Savage sold the house to the partnership of Clayton and Buford, who were already operating the Majestic Theater. They renamed the Pioneer Isis, and it continued to operate for more than a decade. The closure of the Isis by 1923 was probably a consequence of the opening of the much larger Ashland Theater in April, 1921.
The Majestic Theatre did not become the Ashland, according to a quite thorough history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales, published in 1921 and available on this web page provided by Wellington’s Chisholm Trail Museum.
The Majestic opened as the Haligraph Theatre (named for owners Dr. Halliday and Mr. Graff) in August, 1909. New owners renamed it the Majestic in early 1910. In 1928 both the Ashland Theatre, which had opened in 1921, and the Majestic came under the control of the Miller Show Corporation, operators of the regional Fox theaters.
They remodeled and reopened the Ashland as the Fox Regent Theatre in 1928, converting it for sound in 1929. The Majestic continued to operate as a silent house into late 1929, with shows only on Fridays and Saturdays. In December, 1929, an article announced plans to remodel the Majestic, but they appear never to have come to fruition, and advertisements for the house simply vanished from the local paper.
The September 4, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World reported that the Jefferson Theatre in Goshen had been sold by its creditors, the Elkhart Trust Company, who had foreclosed on the house in 1914. The original investors, who had mortgaged the building after the $70,000 rebuilding in 1907, had defaulted and lost most of their investment. Charles J. Allardt, of South Bend, bought the Jefferson for the bargain price of between $30,000 and $35,000. He planned to reopen the theater as a combination house, with continuous shows of vaudeville and movies. The Allardt circuit was still operating the Jefferson at least as late as 1920.
The 1907 Sanborn map of Kansas City shows the People’s Theatre at 640 Minnesota Avenue. Sadly, the building has since been demolished.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he People’s theater of Kansas City which has been closed for a year, will open September 11 under new management. It will be known hereafter as the Columbian.” Most likely it had become part of the Columbian Amusement Company, which operated a circuit of vaudeville and burlesque houses in the region at least into the mid-1920s.
Operation as a live venue could account for the absence of the house from the 1914-1915 AMPD. It isn’t listed in the 1926 FDY either, though I suppose it could have operated under a different name by then. The building was eventually converted for retail use, as a photo from the 1960s shows a men’s clothing store in part of it, and the modernized façade looks like it might have dated from the 1940s or early 1950s.
This item, from the January 8, 1916 issue of The American Contractor mentions theater owner F. H. Graff, and the timing fits the known history of the Grand Theatre: “Moving Picture Theater, Estherville, Ia. Archt. J. E. Nason, 622 Corn Exchange bldg., Minneapolis. Owner F. H. Graff, Estherville. Contr., Ganley Constr. Co. Plymouth bldg. Excavating. Brk. Gen. contr. desires bids on plastering, ptg. elec. work.” We currently have five other theaters listed as the work of architect Joseph E. Nason.
There is a mention of the Pearl Theatre in the October 6, 1917 Moving Picture World: “Newton, Kan.—The Pearl theater has been purchased by H. E. Herbert, former owner of the Royal theater at Newton. He is one of the pioneer moving picture men of the town.”
Mr. Herbert was also the subject of this item from the March 20, 1913 issue of MPW: “NEIGHBORLY PICTURE MAN
‘Mr. H. E. Herbert, Newton, Kan., has for several months been looking forward to opening his show in his new building about the first of March. But because Mr. Herbert has a great deal of 'the milk of human kindness,’ and other kinds of unselfishness and fellow-feeling in his nature, he will not get into it until April 1. The explanation is well known to his friends in Newton, Kan., and is the kind of story that is a pleasure to circulate. Mr. Herbert’s theater building was being erected by a contractor who was also working at the same time on a new store building for a hardware merchant. The hardware man’s store was burned and he was left without a suitable place in which to do business. Mr. Herbert immediately instructed the contractor to expend all his time and energies on the merchant’s store and let his go temporarily."
I haven’t been able to determine which theater Mr. Herbert had under construction in 1913. He owned the Royal for a time, but that wasn’t built until 1914 or 1915, so the 1913 project had to be some other house.
The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Newton, Kas.—J. A. Miller of Ottawa will erect an air-dome in Newton, which will be on a circuit with eleven other towns, as follows: Excelsior Springs, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Emporia, Salina, Hutchinson, Wichita, Winfield, Arkansas City and Ottawa. The season will open about May 25 and continue until September 25.”
Are we sure of the 1914 opening for this house? The January 2, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had this item: “NEWTON, KAN.—N. P. Nielson, 810 North 7th street, is preparing plans for a one and two-story moving picture theater, 50 by 150 feet. Lessee, T. H. McManus.” MPW’s report was a bit late, as the same project had been noted in the November 25, 1914 issue of Western Contractor with the notation “work under way.” It might have been completed before the end of 1914, though early 1915 seems as likely.
Both the 755-seat Andrews Theatre and the 816-seat Strand Theatre, the only two houses listed at Salamanca, were listed as part of the Schine Circuit in the 1926 FDY.
The August 2, 1950 issue of The Exhibitor said this: “In Vandalia, Ill., the Tanner Drive-In Theatres Corporation, Pana, Ill., opened its Vandalia Drive-In. It accommodates 500 cars.”
The August 16 issue of the same journal had another item, with more information about the Tanner Circuit: “In Vandalia, Ill., Mayor Cliff Rassler participated on behalf of the city in the formal grand opening of the Tanner Drive-In just off New Route 40. Herman Tanner, who resides in Vandalia, operates the circuit’s Liberty and Lincoln.
“The circuit also has a drive-in at Pana, Ill., at the east end of East Third street and like the local drive-in is of 500-car capacity. The Tanners also operate the Roseland and Eagle, Pana, and the Palace, Nokomis, Ill.”
We have the wrong opening year for this house. This web page, which has a brief history of the house, a couple of photos, and several ads, says that it opened in April, 1920. Architects were C. C. and A. L. Thayer. An item about the proposed house appeared in the August 2, 1919 issue of Exhibitors Herald
This house was later known as the Princess Theatre. This page from a Kansas genealogy site has descriptions of Salina businesses taken from a booklet published in the 1910s (no exact date is provided) and one is C. A. Thacher’s Princess Theatre, 156 N. Santa Fe Avenue. Although the booklet is undated, the February 17, 1912 issue of The Billboard makes reference to “Carl A. Thacher, manager of Princess Theatre, Salina.”
If you check Google’s street view of this theater you can see that the auditorium is in a Quonset structure attached to the back of what looks like an older commercial building. As for the sequence of events, the fire that destroyed the Liberty Theatre was reported in the August 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. The item said that the town would not be without movies for long though, as the new theater being built there by Vern Powell was expected to open within the next two months.
An item in the June 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice reported that ground had been broken in Mabton for a new, 400-seat house that was expected to open on July 15. The owner’s name was mistakenly given as Dowell rather than Powell, and the July 15 opening date was hilariously overoptimistic, but the item does show that the new theater was planned quite some time before the August fire.
Incidentally, the Mabton Theatre, not the Liberty, is listed in the 1945 FDY, though it was listed as closed. Perhaps it was renamed Liberty after reopening. In 1945 it had 230 seats, as opposed to the 364 listed for the Mabton Theatre in the 1951 year book.