The Rodgers Theatre has been closed since 2006. The most recent article I can find about it is this one from the Corning Observer of January 31 this year. It says that the renovations are proceeding, and at that time new bathrooms were being built.
The Rodgers Theatre was donated to the City of Corning by Daniel and Wealthy Rodgers in 1991, along with an endowment of $50,000 toward its maintenance. The current renovations are being paid for by funds from various sources, including grants, municipal funds, and donations. The goal is to convert the building into a community center with a movie theater included.
The article says that the Rodgers Theatre was built in 1935. Unless information has been lost over the years and it was actually built earlier, that means the house would not be the 1928 project mentioned on the California Index card that I cited in my comment of September 26, 2008.
The Iowa Library Quarterly for January, February and March, 1914, says that the Tuesday Club, a women’s organization in Storm Lake, had raised funds for their local library by holding a candy and popcorn sale at the World, Princess, and Palace Theatres.
Under the theater name in the first photo Bill linked to there is a plaque reading “Clay W. Metsker, Owner”. The Rialto must have been the project mentioned in the May 8, 1920, issue of Indiana Construction Recorder, which said that a two story theater, 42x126 feet, was being built at Plymouth for C.W. Metsker. The architect was R.L. Simmons of Elkhart.
The Rialto Theatre building is listed on LoopNet as being at 209 N. Michigan Street, but it is currently off the market.
This article from the Rochester Sentinal says that Charles Krieghbaum bought the Paramount Theatre after he arrived in Rochester in 1922. In 1924 he opened the much larger Char-Bell Theatre, now called the Times Theatre. The article doesn’t say whether or not he continued to operate the Paramount for the last year of its life or if he sold it to another operator.
Part one of the Sentinal article about Rochester’s movie houses says that the Paramount replaced the My Show Theatre. Presumably the My Show occupied the same storefront as the Paramount (now the north half of the B&B Men’s Wear store), but the article doesn’t specify that.
The Paramount Theatre was mentioned in the February 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, which said that brothers Clyde and Sydney Wilson had bought the house from Ray Blausser. The Wilsons had also bought another Rochester house, the Kai-Gee Theatre, from Roy Shanks.
I’ve uploaded a 1910 photo of Clune’s Broadway Theatre to the photo section. It looks like the theater was not open yet when the photo was taken, though construction had apparently been completed.
The Rialto Theater opened in 1908 as the National Theatorium, according to this web page citing a 1964 article by Maymie Krythe in the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram. There are two photos showing the theater.
The caption of a photo of the National Theatorium published in the December 31, 1910, issue of The Film Index says that the house was then being operated by Mr. G.O. Post.
The August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index published an article about the four theaters then operating on the block of Madison Street between Dearborn and Clark. It said that the Pastime Theatre had been built “about two years ago”, which would make an opening sometime in the latter part of 1908 likely. With 460 seats, the Pastime was the largest of the four theaters on the block.
The Pastime Theatre Co. also operated a house of the same name on Adams Street, as well as the Victoria Theatre in Logan Square. General manager H.W. Thompson had his office in the Madison Street house.
The July 26, 1910, opening of Lancaster’s original Hippodrome Theatre, which burned and was replaced by this house in 1916, was noted in the August 20, 1910 issue of The Film Index.
This house was called the Casino Garden Theatre in 1910, when it was one of four houses featured in an article about theaters on Chicago’s Madison Street that was published in the August 20 issue of The Film Index. The article confirms that the Casino was originally owned by Charles Weeghman. It was managed for him by Harry B. Fitzpatrick. The article says that the Casino Garden Theatre had been operating for almost a year, which means it must have opened in the latter third of 1909.
The Boston Theatre probably opened in early 1908. An article about four theaters then operating on this block of Chicago’s Madison Street, appearing in the August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index said: “The Boston Theatre was built two and a half years ago by the Boston Theatre Co., at an outlay of $17,000.”
The August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index had an article about the four movie theaters then operating in this block of Chicago’s Madison Avenue, including the Alcazar. It said that the Alcazar was the first theater on the block, opening in May, 1907, with 300 seats. Built at a cost of $20,000, the Alcazar was the first Chicago movie theater to install a pipe organ. Rick Altman’s Silent Film Sound identifies this as a five-rank Hinners Organ Company tracker model, installed in 1908.
An 800-seat house called the Grand Theatre was operating in East Stroudsburg in 1908, when it was included in the list of American theaters published in the September 5 issue of The Billboard. The Pocono Cinema’s building could date from the 1900s, though the front looks a bit plain for the era. The Grand Theatre of 1908 might have been this theater or a predecessor of the same name.
There was a Casino Theatre operating in Yuma as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in the January 16 issue of The Moving Picture World. The operator was Johna Johansen.
Benson & Bohl Architects designed this theater for Regal Cinemas. There is a small but recognizable rendering of it on this page of the firm’s web site.
Gate City did something with its numbering system, and the old Gate City Theatre building now has a different address. As near as I can tell, it is 271 W. Jackson Street. Google Maps misplaces all the addresses on Jackson Street, so here is a link to the correct location at Bing Maps.
The three story building which fronted the Scott Theatre, seen down the block in Don’s photo, is still standing, too. Its location can be fetched at Bing Maps using the address 245 W. Jackson Street. I don’t think the Scott’s auditorium is still intact, though. In Google’s satellite view, it looks like the roof of most of the auditorium section has been removed, though the walls are still there.
A photo of the stage draperies in the Taylor Theatre appears at the bottom of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice.
The Taylor Theatre in the photo we currently display on this page is not located at 19 E.Jackson Street, but in a building now occupied by the Ivy Cottage Antique Store at 143 W. Jackson Street. This is probably the building that was built in 1938 for Ralph and Malcolm Taylor. It was the subject of a lawsuit between the Taylor brothers, their landlord, and their original landlord, recorded on this page at FindACase.
The record says that the Taylor Theatre opened on July 15, 1938. Before the construction of this theater, the Taylor brothers operated a smaller theater in Gate City. Most likely it was that earlier theater that was located at 19 E. Jackson Street. Gate City apparently doesn’t have two-digit addresses anymore, though, and I’m not sure what the modern number for old 19 E. Jackson is.
I have set Street View to the correct location, although there is something odd about the addresses in Gate City. Internet searches for several businesses along this and adjacent blocks return results that have numbers on both East and West Jackson, but they overlap, mixed up on the same blocks. Ivy Cottage itself is listed by multiple web sites as being on West Jackson, as are a couple of other nearby businesses, though Google Maps says this is East Jackson. Bing Maps is spot on.
I can’t find any evidence that this house was ever called the Martin Theatre. This fairly long history from the web site of The Sideline, the fitness center that currently occupies the building, says that the Ruffin Amusement Company built the Varsity Theatre in 1949, opening it on August 18, though it had been in the planning stage since 1941. The original theater signage is still on the building, which would be very unlikely if the house had ever had another name.
The Sideline page says that the auditorium still has its original draperies, but the photo Chuck linked to on April 20, 2009, shows a much simpler curtain than does the photo of the original draperies at the top of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice. Perhaps the original curtain had been stored away and was reinstalled by the current occupant. I suspect that the original draperies would have been removed when a CinemaScope screen was installed a few years after the theater opened.
The photo of the Martin Theatre auditorium that I mentioned in an earlier comment can be seen at the bottom of this page from Boxoffice, September 1, 1951.
A small drawing of the front of the Tower Theatre and a photo showing a glimpse of the dim auditorium from the standee area illustrate an ad for Spongex rug cushion on this page of Boxoffice, October 6, 1941.
Two views of the auditorium of the Dipson Plaza Theatre were featured in an ad for the American Seating Company in the December 8, 1951, issue of Boxoffice
The Rodgers Theatre has been closed since 2006. The most recent article I can find about it is this one from the Corning Observer of January 31 this year. It says that the renovations are proceeding, and at that time new bathrooms were being built.
The Rodgers Theatre was donated to the City of Corning by Daniel and Wealthy Rodgers in 1991, along with an endowment of $50,000 toward its maintenance. The current renovations are being paid for by funds from various sources, including grants, municipal funds, and donations. The goal is to convert the building into a community center with a movie theater included.
The article says that the Rodgers Theatre was built in 1935. Unless information has been lost over the years and it was actually built earlier, that means the house would not be the 1928 project mentioned on the California Index card that I cited in my comment of September 26, 2008.
The Iowa Library Quarterly for January, February and March, 1914, says that the Tuesday Club, a women’s organization in Storm Lake, had raised funds for their local library by holding a candy and popcorn sale at the World, Princess, and Palace Theatres.
Under the theater name in the first photo Bill linked to there is a plaque reading “Clay W. Metsker, Owner”. The Rialto must have been the project mentioned in the May 8, 1920, issue of Indiana Construction Recorder, which said that a two story theater, 42x126 feet, was being built at Plymouth for C.W. Metsker. The architect was R.L. Simmons of Elkhart.
The Rialto Theatre building is listed on LoopNet as being at 209 N. Michigan Street, but it is currently off the market.
This article from the Rochester Sentinal says that Charles Krieghbaum bought the Paramount Theatre after he arrived in Rochester in 1922. In 1924 he opened the much larger Char-Bell Theatre, now called the Times Theatre. The article doesn’t say whether or not he continued to operate the Paramount for the last year of its life or if he sold it to another operator.
Part one of the Sentinal article about Rochester’s movie houses says that the Paramount replaced the My Show Theatre. Presumably the My Show occupied the same storefront as the Paramount (now the north half of the B&B Men’s Wear store), but the article doesn’t specify that.
The Paramount Theatre was mentioned in the February 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, which said that brothers Clyde and Sydney Wilson had bought the house from Ray Blausser. The Wilsons had also bought another Rochester house, the Kai-Gee Theatre, from Roy Shanks.
I’ve uploaded a 1910 photo of Clune’s Broadway Theatre to the photo section. It looks like the theater was not open yet when the photo was taken, though construction had apparently been completed.
The architects of the original Colonial No. 2 Theatre, 1910-1939, were Eaton & Bates.
The Rialto Theater opened in 1908 as the National Theatorium, according to this web page citing a 1964 article by Maymie Krythe in the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram. There are two photos showing the theater.
The caption of a photo of the National Theatorium published in the December 31, 1910, issue of The Film Index says that the house was then being operated by Mr. G.O. Post.
The August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index published an article about the four theaters then operating on the block of Madison Street between Dearborn and Clark. It said that the Pastime Theatre had been built “about two years ago”, which would make an opening sometime in the latter part of 1908 likely. With 460 seats, the Pastime was the largest of the four theaters on the block.
The Pastime Theatre Co. also operated a house of the same name on Adams Street, as well as the Victoria Theatre in Logan Square. General manager H.W. Thompson had his office in the Madison Street house.
The Crystal Theatre can be seen in this 1925 photo of a parade of elementary school graduates marching along East Second Street in downtown Muscatine.
The July 26, 1910, opening of Lancaster’s original Hippodrome Theatre, which burned and was replaced by this house in 1916, was noted in the August 20, 1910 issue of The Film Index.
The I cited in my previous comment article also gives the seating capacity of the Casino Garden Theatre as 400.
This house was called the Casino Garden Theatre in 1910, when it was one of four houses featured in an article about theaters on Chicago’s Madison Street that was published in the August 20 issue of The Film Index. The article confirms that the Casino was originally owned by Charles Weeghman. It was managed for him by Harry B. Fitzpatrick. The article says that the Casino Garden Theatre had been operating for almost a year, which means it must have opened in the latter third of 1909.
The Boston Theatre probably opened in early 1908. An article about four theaters then operating on this block of Chicago’s Madison Street, appearing in the August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index said: “The Boston Theatre was built two and a half years ago by the Boston Theatre Co., at an outlay of $17,000.”
The August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index had an article about the four movie theaters then operating in this block of Chicago’s Madison Avenue, including the Alcazar. It said that the Alcazar was the first theater on the block, opening in May, 1907, with 300 seats. Built at a cost of $20,000, the Alcazar was the first Chicago movie theater to install a pipe organ. Rick Altman’s Silent Film Sound identifies this as a five-rank Hinners Organ Company tracker model, installed in 1908.
An 800-seat house called the Grand Theatre was operating in East Stroudsburg in 1908, when it was included in the list of American theaters published in the September 5 issue of The Billboard. The Pocono Cinema’s building could date from the 1900s, though the front looks a bit plain for the era. The Grand Theatre of 1908 might have been this theater or a predecessor of the same name.
There was a Casino Theatre operating in Yuma as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in the January 16 issue of The Moving Picture World. The operator was Johna Johansen.
The web site of the designers of this theater, Benson & Bohl Architects, has a photo of it on this page.
Benson & Bohl Architects designed this theater for Regal Cinemas. There is a small but recognizable rendering of it on this page of the firm’s web site.
Gate City did something with its numbering system, and the old Gate City Theatre building now has a different address. As near as I can tell, it is 271 W. Jackson Street. Google Maps misplaces all the addresses on Jackson Street, so here is a link to the correct location at Bing Maps.
The three story building which fronted the Scott Theatre, seen down the block in Don’s photo, is still standing, too. Its location can be fetched at Bing Maps using the address 245 W. Jackson Street. I don’t think the Scott’s auditorium is still intact, though. In Google’s satellite view, it looks like the roof of most of the auditorium section has been removed, though the walls are still there.
A photo of the stage draperies in the Taylor Theatre appears at the bottom of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice.
The Taylor Theatre in the photo we currently display on this page is not located at 19 E.Jackson Street, but in a building now occupied by the Ivy Cottage Antique Store at 143 W. Jackson Street. This is probably the building that was built in 1938 for Ralph and Malcolm Taylor. It was the subject of a lawsuit between the Taylor brothers, their landlord, and their original landlord, recorded on this page at FindACase.
The record says that the Taylor Theatre opened on July 15, 1938. Before the construction of this theater, the Taylor brothers operated a smaller theater in Gate City. Most likely it was that earlier theater that was located at 19 E. Jackson Street. Gate City apparently doesn’t have two-digit addresses anymore, though, and I’m not sure what the modern number for old 19 E. Jackson is.
I have set Street View to the correct location, although there is something odd about the addresses in Gate City. Internet searches for several businesses along this and adjacent blocks return results that have numbers on both East and West Jackson, but they overlap, mixed up on the same blocks. Ivy Cottage itself is listed by multiple web sites as being on West Jackson, as are a couple of other nearby businesses, though Google Maps says this is East Jackson. Bing Maps is spot on.
I can’t find any evidence that this house was ever called the Martin Theatre. This fairly long history from the web site of The Sideline, the fitness center that currently occupies the building, says that the Ruffin Amusement Company built the Varsity Theatre in 1949, opening it on August 18, though it had been in the planning stage since 1941. The original theater signage is still on the building, which would be very unlikely if the house had ever had another name.
The Sideline page says that the auditorium still has its original draperies, but the photo Chuck linked to on April 20, 2009, shows a much simpler curtain than does the photo of the original draperies at the top of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice. Perhaps the original curtain had been stored away and was reinstalled by the current occupant. I suspect that the original draperies would have been removed when a CinemaScope screen was installed a few years after the theater opened.
The photo of the Martin Theatre auditorium that I mentioned in an earlier comment can be seen at the bottom of this page from Boxoffice, September 1, 1951.
A photo of the original screen draperies of the Gateway Theatre can be seen at the top of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice.
A small drawing of the front of the Tower Theatre and a photo showing a glimpse of the dim auditorium from the standee area illustrate an ad for Spongex rug cushion on this page of Boxoffice, October 6, 1941.
Two views of the auditorium of the Dipson Plaza Theatre were featured in an ad for the American Seating Company in the December 8, 1951, issue of Boxoffice