Here is an interesting bit of atmosphere from the heyday of the Palace Theatre. Williamson’s Beale Street Frolic Orchestra was the pit band at the Palace in the 1920s. The band made some recordings for Victor records, and two takes of each of four of their original songs, recorded in 1927, can be heard at Red Hot Jazz (requires RealPlayer.)
The list of theaters in the 1921 edition of the Chicago Daily News Almanac has two houses called the Ashland Theatre. This house on Madison Street was in operation by 1916, when it was mentioned in the July 8 issue of Motography. The house that is described in the January 4, 1914, article from the Chicago Tribune quoted in the earlier comment by AgelessTreasures was the other Ashland Theatre, located at 4856 S. Ashland Avenue.
It was the Ashland Avenue house that was designed by architect David Saul Klafter (though he designed many theaters during that period and I don’t know for sure that he didn’t design the Madison Street house as well, but I’ve found no period source saying that he did.)
The Ashland Avenue house did suffer construction delays for more than a year. It was under construction in 1912, when it was the subject of an article on page 14 of the September 28 issue of Construction News (Google Books scan.) It was originally to have been called the Home Theatre, but apparently changed owners during the delays and was renamed before finally opening.
The Estey organ installed in the Ashland Theatre in 1924 was probably in the Madison Street house. The Ashland Avenue house is listed in the moving picture supplement of the 1921 Cahn guide as the New Ashland Theatre (though it might have actually been older than the Madison Street house) with the note OB, meaning out of business. I’ve been unable to discover if it ever reopened after 1921. If it did, it might have been under another name.
The building, however, is still standing at the northwest corner of Ashland Avenue and 49th Street, and from the 49th Street side is easily recognizable as a former theater, though the facade is much plainer than that shown in the illustration that accompanies the 1912 Construction News article.
A nocturnal photo of the new front of the recently remodeled Gibson Theatre provided the cover illustration of Boxoffice magazine’s “The Modern Theatre” section for April 1, 1950.
This house was also known as the Strand Theatre. The Toledo City Journal for October 30, 1920, says that on October 18 the Toledo City Council adopted a resolution allowing the Strand Theatre Company to erect an electric sign atop the canopy over the entrance to the theater at 322 Summit Street.
The house operated as the Strand until 1950, when it was remodeled and renamed the Guild Theatre. An illustrated article about the Guild appeared in Boxoffice of April 1, 1950. The Guild Theatre operated as an art house.
Page 40 of Davenport, by Doug Smith (Google Books preview), features a 1920 photo of the Family Theatre at 215 West Third Street, so the name change from Family to State Theatre could have taken place no earlier than that year.
The Liberty Theatre placed an advertisement in the May 30, 1942, issue of The Billboard, seeking burlesque performers for the summer season. Another ad in the November 14 issue of The Billboard the same year touted the Liberty’s star attraction, Ina Lorraine, featured in a “…novelty dance characterization…” called The Virgin’s Dream.
I’ve been unable to find any earlier or later references to the Liberty Theatre, but in 1942 it was definitely operating as a burlesque house.
The Family Theatre was in operation at 215 Third Street by 1913, when it was mentioned in at least two issues of The Moving Picture World. A brief item in the August 21, 1915, issue of the same publication said that the Family Theatre was being remodeled into “…first class motion picture house….” at a cost of $10,000, and would be expanded to seat over 700 patrons. It was scheduled to reopen that month.
At some point, the American Theatre at 324 W. Third Street, which had been in operation since before 1910, was renamed the Family Theatre.
Volume 2 of The Papers of Will Rogers, edited by Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson, says that the Columbia Theatre was originally a two-a-day vaudeville house on the Orpheum circuit.
This page from Facebook user Davenport Iowa History has a photo of 3rd Street west from Harrison Street taken “about 1908” showing the American Theatre in the distance.
This page of Rudy’s web site lists the location at 326 Cedar Street, so it must still be there.
In satellite view and street view, the building has an odd shape, with one corner chopped off. I’m having a hard time figuring out how the auditorium was configured in that irregular space. Has the building been altered since it ceased to be a theater?
Also, I see that Google Maps has screwed up again, putting the pin icon about four blocks too far east. As Cedar Street is clearly labeled on their map, I can’t imagine why they missed it with their pin.
A photo of the front of the Westgate Theatre appears in the lower right corner of this page of the August 21, 1937, issue of Boxoffice. A photo of the auditorium appears on the subsequent page.
This web page about a Bucyrus Community Theatre is about this house. It says that the theater was built in the Art Deco style in 1936, and is now being restored after having been long vacant. Several web sites note that the Schine circuit opened the Bucyrus Theatre on February 14, 1936.
This article from early 2011, about a roofing job donated to the theater, mentions the theater having suffered a fire in 1991, after which it never reopened.
This single web page is as close to an official web site as I can find. It solicits contributions for the ongoing restoration project.
A Nixon Theatre in New Castle was listed in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide as a first-floor house with 1,800 seats. This house was part of the Nixon & Zimmerman chain, which operated first-class theaters for touring companies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
I don’t find the Nixon listed in later Cahn guides, though. Instead, there is a theater listed as the Opera House, with fewer than 1,100 seats. A New Castle theater called the New Opera House is on a list of Cahn-affiliated houses published in the December 5, 1908, issue of em>The Billboard.
But the Nixon was still in existence in 1913. This web page, which is mostly about a murder that was committed in New Castle 1905, mentions a meeting of spiritualists that took place at the Nixon Theatre on February 2, 1913.
The Austin Theatre was listed at the above address in the 1919 Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook, which has a copyright date of 1918, so this theater must date from the 1910s.
Harkins Chandler Crossroads 12 was one of the multiplexes designed for the chain by Level4 Studios. Prior to the founding of Level4, partner Tim Ward was half owner of D&L Architects & Associates, which had also designed several projects for Harkins. Before that, he spent some years with United Artists Theatres, first as field project manager and later as director of design.
Harkins Prescott Valley 14 was one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by D&L Architects & Associates, a firm half owned by architect Tim S. Ward. In 2005, Ward founded Level4 Studio with partner Nik Perkovich, and that firm also designed some theaters for Harkins.
Harkins North Valley 16 was one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by D&L Architects & Associates, a firm half owned by architect Tim S. Ward. In 2005, Ward founded Level4 Studio with partner Nik Perkovich, and that firm also designed some theaters for Harkins.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As the Gateway Pavilions was opened in November, 2002, it is one of those projects.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As it opened in May, 2000, Harkins Arrowhead Fountains 18 is one of those projects.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As it opened in 2001, Harkins Chandler Fashion Center 20 is one of those projects.
Part of the introduction puzzles me. I don’t see how Pierre L'Enfant, who lived from 1754 to 1825, could have designed a company town in Illinois in 1901. This history of Zeigler says the town was planned by engineer L. V. Rice, working for the Chicago engineering firm Robert W. Hunt & Company.
Here is an interesting bit of atmosphere from the heyday of the Palace Theatre. Williamson’s Beale Street Frolic Orchestra was the pit band at the Palace in the 1920s. The band made some recordings for Victor records, and two takes of each of four of their original songs, recorded in 1927, can be heard at Red Hot Jazz (requires RealPlayer.)
The list of theaters in the 1921 edition of the Chicago Daily News Almanac has two houses called the Ashland Theatre. This house on Madison Street was in operation by 1916, when it was mentioned in the July 8 issue of Motography. The house that is described in the January 4, 1914, article from the Chicago Tribune quoted in the earlier comment by AgelessTreasures was the other Ashland Theatre, located at 4856 S. Ashland Avenue.
It was the Ashland Avenue house that was designed by architect David Saul Klafter (though he designed many theaters during that period and I don’t know for sure that he didn’t design the Madison Street house as well, but I’ve found no period source saying that he did.)
The Ashland Avenue house did suffer construction delays for more than a year. It was under construction in 1912, when it was the subject of an article on page 14 of the September 28 issue of Construction News (Google Books scan.) It was originally to have been called the Home Theatre, but apparently changed owners during the delays and was renamed before finally opening.
The Estey organ installed in the Ashland Theatre in 1924 was probably in the Madison Street house. The Ashland Avenue house is listed in the moving picture supplement of the 1921 Cahn guide as the New Ashland Theatre (though it might have actually been older than the Madison Street house) with the note OB, meaning out of business. I’ve been unable to discover if it ever reopened after 1921. If it did, it might have been under another name.
The building, however, is still standing at the northwest corner of Ashland Avenue and 49th Street, and from the 49th Street side is easily recognizable as a former theater, though the facade is much plainer than that shown in the illustration that accompanies the 1912 Construction News article.
A nocturnal photo of the new front of the recently remodeled Gibson Theatre provided the cover illustration of Boxoffice magazine’s “The Modern Theatre” section for April 1, 1950.
Here are links to a couple of items about the Randolph Theatre in Boxoffice that were mentioned in previous comments but not linked:
Article about the remodeling from April 1, 1950.
Photo of the lobby from October 7, 1950.
This house was also known as the Strand Theatre. The Toledo City Journal for October 30, 1920, says that on October 18 the Toledo City Council adopted a resolution allowing the Strand Theatre Company to erect an electric sign atop the canopy over the entrance to the theater at 322 Summit Street.
The house operated as the Strand until 1950, when it was remodeled and renamed the Guild Theatre. An illustrated article about the Guild appeared in Boxoffice of April 1, 1950. The Guild Theatre operated as an art house.
Page 40 of Davenport, by Doug Smith (Google Books preview), features a 1920 photo of the Family Theatre at 215 West Third Street, so the name change from Family to State Theatre could have taken place no earlier than that year.
The Liberty Theatre placed an advertisement in the May 30, 1942, issue of The Billboard, seeking burlesque performers for the summer season. Another ad in the November 14 issue of The Billboard the same year touted the Liberty’s star attraction, Ina Lorraine, featured in a “…novelty dance characterization…” called The Virgin’s Dream.
I’ve been unable to find any earlier or later references to the Liberty Theatre, but in 1942 it was definitely operating as a burlesque house.
The Family Theatre was in operation at 215 Third Street by 1913, when it was mentioned in at least two issues of The Moving Picture World. A brief item in the August 21, 1915, issue of the same publication said that the Family Theatre was being remodeled into “…first class motion picture house….” at a cost of $10,000, and would be expanded to seat over 700 patrons. It was scheduled to reopen that month.
At some point, the American Theatre at 324 W. Third Street, which had been in operation since before 1910, was renamed the Family Theatre.
Volume 2 of The Papers of Will Rogers, edited by Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson, says that the Columbia Theatre was originally a two-a-day vaudeville house on the Orpheum circuit.
The Davenport Iowa History web site has two photos of the Davenport Theatre under construction in 1912:
View 1
View 2
This page from Facebook user Davenport Iowa History has a photo of 3rd Street west from Harrison Street taken “about 1908” showing the American Theatre in the distance.
This page of Rudy’s web site lists the location at 326 Cedar Street, so it must still be there.
In satellite view and street view, the building has an odd shape, with one corner chopped off. I’m having a hard time figuring out how the auditorium was configured in that irregular space. Has the building been altered since it ceased to be a theater?
Also, I see that Google Maps has screwed up again, putting the pin icon about four blocks too far east. As Cedar Street is clearly labeled on their map, I can’t imagine why they missed it with their pin.
A photo of the front of the Westgate Theatre appears in the lower right corner of this page of the August 21, 1937, issue of Boxoffice. A photo of the auditorium appears on the subsequent page.
I’ve found a reference to the Grand Theatre in Massillon operating as early as 1923.
If the spelling of the town’s name is corrected (it takes a double “s”), this house will be able to join its companions.
This web page about a Bucyrus Community Theatre is about this house. It says that the theater was built in the Art Deco style in 1936, and is now being restored after having been long vacant. Several web sites note that the Schine circuit opened the Bucyrus Theatre on February 14, 1936.
This article from early 2011, about a roofing job donated to the theater, mentions the theater having suffered a fire in 1991, after which it never reopened.
This single web page is as close to an official web site as I can find. It solicits contributions for the ongoing restoration project.
Linkrot repair: here is a fresh link to the 1937 Boxoffice article, with photo, about the Community Theatre in Toms River.
A Nixon Theatre in New Castle was listed in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide as a first-floor house with 1,800 seats. This house was part of the Nixon & Zimmerman chain, which operated first-class theaters for touring companies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
I don’t find the Nixon listed in later Cahn guides, though. Instead, there is a theater listed as the Opera House, with fewer than 1,100 seats. A New Castle theater called the New Opera House is on a list of Cahn-affiliated houses published in the December 5, 1908, issue of em>The Billboard.
But the Nixon was still in existence in 1913. This web page, which is mostly about a murder that was committed in New Castle 1905, mentions a meeting of spiritualists that took place at the Nixon Theatre on February 2, 1913.
The Austin Theatre was listed at the above address in the 1919 Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook, which has a copyright date of 1918, so this theater must date from the 1910s.
Harkins Chandler Crossroads 12 was one of the multiplexes designed for the chain by Level4 Studios. Prior to the founding of Level4, partner Tim Ward was half owner of D&L Architects & Associates, which had also designed several projects for Harkins. Before that, he spent some years with United Artists Theatres, first as field project manager and later as director of design.
Harkins Prescott Valley 14 was one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by D&L Architects & Associates, a firm half owned by architect Tim S. Ward. In 2005, Ward founded Level4 Studio with partner Nik Perkovich, and that firm also designed some theaters for Harkins.
Harkins North Valley 16 was one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by D&L Architects & Associates, a firm half owned by architect Tim S. Ward. In 2005, Ward founded Level4 Studio with partner Nik Perkovich, and that firm also designed some theaters for Harkins.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As the Gateway Pavilions was opened in November, 2002, it is one of those projects.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As it opened in May, 2000, Harkins Arrowhead Fountains 18 is one of those projects.
The Level4 Studio web site has gone missing. Although a number of Harkins Theatres projects were featured in the firm’s online portfolio, it appears that most of them were designed before Tim Ward and Nik Perkovichi founded the firm. Before Level4 was founded, Tim Ward was half-owner of another firm, D&L Architects & Associates, and the Harkins theaters opened prior to 2005 that are attributed to Level4 should probably be attributed to D&L Architects, even though they were featured on Level4’s web site. As it opened in 2001, Harkins Chandler Fashion Center 20 is one of those projects.
Part of the introduction puzzles me. I don’t see how Pierre L'Enfant, who lived from 1754 to 1825, could have designed a company town in Illinois in 1901. This history of Zeigler says the town was planned by engineer L. V. Rice, working for the Chicago engineering firm Robert W. Hunt & Company.