The original First National Bank building burned January 1901, so this was constructed shortly afterward. This theater must have been closed before 1930, as the Lyric, which was apparently one block to the south, was the only theater in town when it closed late that year.
Very lazy listing with no information. The address was 260 State St. This was located in a large building containing a bank and two storefronts, with an opera house on the second floor. It’s likely the theater operated in that space. The building was constructed sometime between 1900 and 1907, replacing a three-story opera house, perhaps after a fire.
The building is in decent shape today, although recently a huge chunk of the parapet on the south side was removed. This part of the ground floor was a Chinese restaurant, but it seems to have closed.
I very stupidly did not walk down to this block when I passed through, so I can’t supply a photo, but I have attached a Sanborn view showing the arrangement. The 1926 and 1934 maps are not available online, so I can’t say how long this might have operated.
The NRHP listing for the Avery makes reference to a Lyric at 4th and State. It’s possible that was a wooden building on the SW corner. The Lyric apparently closed in October 1930. Construction of the Avery began shortly thereafter.
What Cheer was a coal mining area, and has had a rather catastrophic decline. Downtown is quite attractive, but things are falling apart, and there are a lot of vacant lots. It was never very large, but I think it was the ‘market town’ for the area.
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 8:33 am
Not sure why this is listed as demolished, the building is still there.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
Oct 19, 2023 at 7:38 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 7:33 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 7:23 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 9:42 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 9:39 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.
The original First National Bank building burned January 1901, so this was constructed shortly afterward. This theater must have been closed before 1930, as the Lyric, which was apparently one block to the south, was the only theater in town when it closed late that year.
Very lazy listing with no information. The address was 260 State St. This was located in a large building containing a bank and two storefronts, with an opera house on the second floor. It’s likely the theater operated in that space. The building was constructed sometime between 1900 and 1907, replacing a three-story opera house, perhaps after a fire.
The building is in decent shape today, although recently a huge chunk of the parapet on the south side was removed. This part of the ground floor was a Chinese restaurant, but it seems to have closed.
I very stupidly did not walk down to this block when I passed through, so I can’t supply a photo, but I have attached a Sanborn view showing the arrangement. The 1926 and 1934 maps are not available online, so I can’t say how long this might have operated.
The NRHP listing for the Avery makes reference to a Lyric at 4th and State. It’s possible that was a wooden building on the SW corner. The Lyric apparently closed in October 1930. Construction of the Avery began shortly thereafter.
What Cheer was a coal mining area, and has had a rather catastrophic decline. Downtown is quite attractive, but things are falling apart, and there are a lot of vacant lots. It was never very large, but I think it was the ‘market town’ for the area.
For what it’s worth, the 1909 map shows the opera house, but the 1916 map shows only stores on the ground floor.
It’s hard to imagine what would be considered wide in such a narrow building.
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.