Pretty poor listing with almost no information. The address was 409 N Main, and this huge complex is obviously much older than 1929. It was built in 1893 by Azro Benjamin Franklin (A.B.F.) Hildreth who was a successful entrepreneur and member of the Iowa State Board of Education and the Iowa General Assembly.
It consisted of the Hildreth Hotel and the Hildreth Opera House. It had its own electric light plant, located behind the theater. The capacity listed may be from a later cinema remodeling, but the 1905 Cahn guide gives it a capacity of 1,000. It’s not clear when it began showing films, but it was destroyed in a fire in February 1935. The Charles theater replaced it on the same site. I’ve added a Sanborn view to show the plan.
Address is wrong, this is at 125 E Elmore St. About 2/3 of downtown is gone, but this is just hanging on. Looks like it was converted into a garage. Built sometime after 1914, but architecturally appears to be about that date.
SethG
commented about
Normandieon
Oct 19, 2023 at 6:33 am
Not sure why this is listed as demolished, the building is still there.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 19, 2023 at 5:38 am
This must have been the 1913 Cozy, which would make this the Ahlers building. The other building does not appear on the 1914 map, but it’s so old-fashioned that it must be the second Cozy, from 1916. I may just add it. I think the newspaper article must have goofed on the address.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 19, 2023 at 5:33 am
I’ve added a photo of this theater. There is another building at 109? Riverview that obviously was a theater, and looks very old. That is the building pictured in the article. I didn’t mess with the paywall, but 118 S 2nd is just a cruddy little shed building which houses the newspaper. This whole part of Iowa has uselessly bad streetview coverage, which makes it a little harder to figure things out.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 19, 2023 at 5:23 am
Main became Federal. 119 is sort of hard to pin down. On the 1913 map, there is no 119, and it would have been a house. On later maps, 119 is part of what used to be Harriman’s Opera Hall. That building burned in 1945-6. The 1913 and 1921 maps show that part as a pool hall, but it was certainly large enough to have served as a theater. The opera house itself reportedly closed when the Windsor opened.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 18, 2023 at 7:42 pm
Yes, Federal was Main. It’s crazy how many names changed. Delaware used to be Michigan, all the numbered streets dropped by 4 or 5 at one point, and before Federal was Main, it was Commercial. Thanks for the ID.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 18, 2023 at 7:39 pm
The Idle Hour was almost certainly elsewhere. The Kresge building is at 17 N Federal.
One of the few nice buildings to escape demolition for the stupid mall that ate half of downtown, and they still couldn’t keep it standing. Now a really ugly bank building. I’ve added a Sanborn view to show how the theater fit into the hotel.
This can’t have been built in 1908, since it’s not on the 1909 map. That corner’s just an empty lot, although the Lamb Lumber Co. had been there in 1901. Need to update the description.
This theater is much older. It must have closed briefly or changed names. The theater first appears on the April 1909 Sanborn. The building was constructed between 1892 and 1897, and the 1901 map shows the theater space as vacant, with a cigar factory on the 2nd floor. It appears from the photo that the southern half, containing the theater, was remodeled at some point. Likely demolished in the late ‘70s for Mason City’s idiotic project to obliterate 6 blocks of downtown for a cruddy mall and parking lot.
Building was the Zoller Block, built between 1892 and 1897. The ground floor was originally split in half, and the theater took over the northern half from a dry goods store. By 1915, the theater occupied the entire ground floor with two small storefronts at the corners. I’ve uploaded a view from the 1918 Sanborn to show the plan. The original address was 219, but between 1915 and 1918 it was changed to 119.
Possibly demolished? Hard to say with no address, but the east side of Main (which was all modest wooden buildings on the 1915 Sanborn, the only one available online) is all prefab sheds now.
Old address was 503 Cherry. This building is actually pretty old, built between 1895 and 1902 as a grocery, still a store of some sort on the 1935 map, which shows no theater in town.
There is a theater on the 1913 Sanborn at what I believe is 233 3rd St. Streetview has no coverage, but I’m 90% sure. Might be the same one. A 2020 photo shows that the second floor is derelict, and the ground floor is perhaps an office of some sort.
I really don’t know what to make of it. I was sure it hadn’t come from nowhere. The courthouse is at the corner of Central (then known as Clay) and E 7th. The front faces Central, but Court streets sometimes approach the courthouse at other angles. It’s just possible it was a colloquial reference to that part of Central or 7th. It was also sort of a marginal neighborhood, with lots of industry and hotels close to the railroad. Searching the map wasn’t useless, as I did turn up an airdome. I’ll add a listing for that.
It’s possible that there was an earlier Princess, but there is no such thing as Court St, and there never has been. There are a few ‘such-and-such Courts’, but I wonder if the existence of the prior Princess isn’t fictitious.
Directories list the Royal at 1397, which would be the same building. Maps all show it as 1395. The Royal was opened in 1909, sometime after the Sanborn map was issued in February. It is listed through 1913. The Liberty was likely a wartime renaming. It is listed 1918-1929, after which it became the Uptown. The building was an old two-story brick commercial building, almost certainly pre-1884 (the relevant page is missing from this map), but definitely constructed before 1891, and expanded to the rear by 1909. The 1909 map shows it as a vacant store. The building still existed in 1950, but this section of the block is now a parking lot.
Built to replace the Hildreth theater which was previously located here, and burned in February 1935.
Pretty poor listing with almost no information. The address was 409 N Main, and this huge complex is obviously much older than 1929. It was built in 1893 by Azro Benjamin Franklin (A.B.F.) Hildreth who was a successful entrepreneur and member of the Iowa State Board of Education and the Iowa General Assembly.
It consisted of the Hildreth Hotel and the Hildreth Opera House. It had its own electric light plant, located behind the theater. The capacity listed may be from a later cinema remodeling, but the 1905 Cahn guide gives it a capacity of 1,000. It’s not clear when it began showing films, but it was destroyed in a fire in February 1935. The Charles theater replaced it on the same site. I’ve added a Sanborn view to show the plan.
Definitely open by the mid ‘20s. Before the marquee was installed, it had a metal canopy fringed with small glass panels.
Address is wrong, this is at 125 E Elmore St. About 2/3 of downtown is gone, but this is just hanging on. Looks like it was converted into a garage. Built sometime after 1914, but architecturally appears to be about that date.
Not sure why this is listed as demolished, the building is still there.
This must have been the 1913 Cozy, which would make this the Ahlers building. The other building does not appear on the 1914 map, but it’s so old-fashioned that it must be the second Cozy, from 1916. I may just add it. I think the newspaper article must have goofed on the address.
I’ve added a photo of this theater. There is another building at 109? Riverview that obviously was a theater, and looks very old. That is the building pictured in the article. I didn’t mess with the paywall, but 118 S 2nd is just a cruddy little shed building which houses the newspaper. This whole part of Iowa has uselessly bad streetview coverage, which makes it a little harder to figure things out.
Main became Federal. 119 is sort of hard to pin down. On the 1913 map, there is no 119, and it would have been a house. On later maps, 119 is part of what used to be Harriman’s Opera Hall. That building burned in 1945-6. The 1913 and 1921 maps show that part as a pool hall, but it was certainly large enough to have served as a theater. The opera house itself reportedly closed when the Windsor opened.
Yes, Federal was Main. It’s crazy how many names changed. Delaware used to be Michigan, all the numbered streets dropped by 4 or 5 at one point, and before Federal was Main, it was Commercial. Thanks for the ID.
The Idle Hour was almost certainly elsewhere. The Kresge building is at 17 N Federal.
The 1918 Sanborn calls this the Casino, so it wasn’t the Princess very long.
One of the few nice buildings to escape demolition for the stupid mall that ate half of downtown, and they still couldn’t keep it standing. Now a really ugly bank building. I’ve added a Sanborn view to show how the theater fit into the hotel.
This can’t have been built in 1908, since it’s not on the 1909 map. That corner’s just an empty lot, although the Lamb Lumber Co. had been there in 1901. Need to update the description.
Constructed sometime between 1909 and 1915.
This theater is much older. It must have closed briefly or changed names. The theater first appears on the April 1909 Sanborn. The building was constructed between 1892 and 1897, and the 1901 map shows the theater space as vacant, with a cigar factory on the 2nd floor. It appears from the photo that the southern half, containing the theater, was remodeled at some point. Likely demolished in the late ‘70s for Mason City’s idiotic project to obliterate 6 blocks of downtown for a cruddy mall and parking lot.
Building was the Zoller Block, built between 1892 and 1897. The ground floor was originally split in half, and the theater took over the northern half from a dry goods store. By 1915, the theater occupied the entire ground floor with two small storefronts at the corners. I’ve uploaded a view from the 1918 Sanborn to show the plan. The original address was 219, but between 1915 and 1918 it was changed to 119.
Needs to be changed to demolished. A stupid urban ‘renewal’ project destroyed about half of downtown and replaced it with a mall.
Still need to correct the status to demolished. A giant ugly mall and parking lot destroyed the entire south side of downtown.
Possibly demolished? Hard to say with no address, but the east side of Main (which was all modest wooden buildings on the 1915 Sanborn, the only one available online) is all prefab sheds now.
Old address was 503 Cherry. This building is actually pretty old, built between 1895 and 1902 as a grocery, still a store of some sort on the 1935 map, which shows no theater in town.
Building looks residential. Ugly remodel with lots of siding.
There is a theater on the 1913 Sanborn at what I believe is 233 3rd St. Streetview has no coverage, but I’m 90% sure. Might be the same one. A 2020 photo shows that the second floor is derelict, and the ground floor is perhaps an office of some sort.
I really don’t know what to make of it. I was sure it hadn’t come from nowhere. The courthouse is at the corner of Central (then known as Clay) and E 7th. The front faces Central, but Court streets sometimes approach the courthouse at other angles. It’s just possible it was a colloquial reference to that part of Central or 7th. It was also sort of a marginal neighborhood, with lots of industry and hotels close to the railroad. Searching the map wasn’t useless, as I did turn up an airdome. I’ll add a listing for that.
It’s possible that there was an earlier Princess, but there is no such thing as Court St, and there never has been. There are a few ‘such-and-such Courts’, but I wonder if the existence of the prior Princess isn’t fictitious.
Directories list the Royal at 1397, which would be the same building. Maps all show it as 1395. The Royal was opened in 1909, sometime after the Sanborn map was issued in February. It is listed through 1913. The Liberty was likely a wartime renaming. It is listed 1918-1929, after which it became the Uptown. The building was an old two-story brick commercial building, almost certainly pre-1884 (the relevant page is missing from this map), but definitely constructed before 1891, and expanded to the rear by 1909. The 1909 map shows it as a vacant store. The building still existed in 1950, but this section of the block is now a parking lot.