The venue was created by the United Mine Workers Local 264 and it opened - according to the trade press and local press as Miners Theatre and is often referred to as Miners' Theatre. The keystone was laid by the St. Louis-based Kirsch Architectural firm on October 12, 1917. The entire structure was known as Miner’s Institute Building, a three-story structure housing the union offices , a community center, a library, a ballroom and the Miners Theatre which had live vaudeville, movies, and union meeting space at the outset.
In fact, the Miners Theatre’s first show on December 28, 1918 featured “The Sheriff” with Fatty Arbuckle, a Mary Pickford film and vaudeville star Lila Lee live. It was advertised as Miners Theatre. Architect Robert Kirsch’s Renaissance-designed the theatre including its tribute to mine workers on its exterior.
In 1929, the “new” Miners Theater grand opening occurred after it wried for sound to remain viable beginning with George Jessel in “Lucky Boy” on March 9, 1929. Mid-America Theatres took on the venue. Coal mining wound down in the 1960s and the board of trustees were notified that the company would be terminated its lease closing up on November 25, 1961.
In February of 1965, the Miners was reopened and “Sound of Music” was a major hit for the new operators in 1967. It appears to have closed September 2, 1968 with “King Kong Escapes” and “Journey to Shiloh.”
Florence Bloomer’s Bloomer Amusement Circuit - B.A.C. Theatres - bought the theatre on December 9, 1969. B.A.C. closed here as Miners (no apostrophe) Theatre on August 28, 1986 with “The Great Mouse Detective” and “Haunted Honeymoon.” It was reopened as a live events venue in 1988 and, after a period of inactivity, it was renovated (completed) and is thriving in the 2020s. It name is Miners Theatre although its Facebook site sometimes calls it Miner’s Theatre. Properly, it should be Miners Theater also known as Miners' Theatre.
The Nakeomi Shopping Center had launched theater-less with Kroger and W.T. Grant as anchors in 1963. In an expansion ten years later, the center added Mid-America’s Nameoki Cinema Twin on Friday July 27th, 1973 with “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” and “Class of ‘44”.
Florence Bloomer’s Bloomer Amusement Circuit - B.A.C. Theatres - of Belleville took on the Nakeomi from Mid-America. On December 18, 1986, Kerasotes took over B.A.C. Theatres including the Alton Cameo, Roxana Cinea, as Eastgate 1-2 in East Alton along with the Nameoki.
Kerasotes sailed along with the Nameoki Cinema twin until 2003 when the center wanted the cinema gone - as in demolished - after its 30-year leasing agreement expired. But there was a disagreement over the building rights so the theater continued short term while things got sorted out. They didn’t get sorted out. Kerasotes finally closed it permanently on October 17, 2004 with “Shark Tale” and “Friday Night Lights” due to “circumstances beyond” its control.
The Brentwood and Kirkwood theaters both closed July 31, 1986 as AMC was reducing its one screen locations. Lemay Theater operators Marty Tribl and Mark Friedrich were approached by AMC to sublease the venues until they were either sold or demolished (or both). They agreed. The Brentwood relaunched August 29, 1986 with the unfortunately title “The Money Pit.” The arrangement seems to have ended October 23, 1986 with “Legal Eagles.” It became an oriental rug outlet next.
Mid Rivers Mall opened on October 14, 1987 by May Co’s May Centers, the parent company of legendary St. Louis retailer Famous-Barr who anchored there at launch. The project was about six years behind its original, targeted opening date. And General Cinema’s interest in opening a multiplex there dated back to 1982.
The 1,400 seat General Cinema Mid Rivers was announced as a neighbor to the Paddlewheel Express Food Court with two larger, 400-seat auditoria for the major releases. They finally launched in the mall on December 9, 1988. At that point, GCC had St. Louis-area multiplexes in Mid Rivers, the venerable Lindbergh and the Northwest Plazas, and the outlying Jamestown Mall, Chesterfield Mall, and Sunset Hills Plaza. St. Louis would turn out not to be GCC’s Gateway City. Less than a year after its launch in Mid Rivers, Wehrenberg Theatres bought out all 32 GCC screens effective November 1, 1989. This venue was renamed to the Wehrenberg-preferred label of “ciné” becoming the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné.
Th megaplex era took hold in the mid-1990s and dated mutliplexes all over the country were on the bubble. The chain decided to go big closing the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné March 21, 1999 and announcing a revamped 14-screen facility that would launch at year’s end on December 10, 1999 - as the Mid Rivers 14 Ciné.
In November of 2016, Marcus Corp. bought the Wehrenberg locations and it would eventually change the name of this venue to the Mid Rivers Cinema. A major post-COVID pandemic refresh included a bar and one of the Marcus' SuperScreen DLX large premium format auditoriums at its May 7, 2021 reboot after a three-month closure. Marcus' Mid Rivers Cinema was still operating in the 2020s.
The Baden Family Theater launched in 1913. In 1921, it was called the Baden Theatre. The Kaiman Brothers Circuit gave it an interior streamline refresh in 1937. It closed on April 25, 1965 with “So Dear to My Heart” and “The Quick Gun.” It became Towne Hall North, a party rental / banquet space.
Arthur Brothers Enterprises Circuit opened June 11, 1965 with “She.” But 12 years later, Arthur Circuit was in free fall and closed ten theaters late Summer of 1977 in financial reorganization. The Lewis & Clark was one such theater as property owner Civic Center Redevelopment Corp. said that $50,000 in unpaid rent was due on the Lewis & Clark and the Stadium I & II in downtown St. Louis. $200,000 in unpaid rent was found at other properties.
The Lewis & Clark divestiture took place when Civic found an immediate new operator in Mid-America Theatres. The new operator relaunched with a gala reopening on July 17, 1978 playing “Saturday Night Fever.” Mid-America decided not to extend past the 25-year leasing period closing with “Return of the Dragon” and “Game of Death” on August 30, 1980. From a mapping standpoint, the venue was at 9973 Lewis and Clark Blvd.
In 1980, Mid-America Theaters took on the Mann’s Mark Twain Theatre retaining that name. In July 1982, Wehrenberg took on the of Mann’s Mark Twin Cine still under that name until changing the name not long after to the Mark Twain Cine to be consistent with its other venues. It closed as the Mark Twain Cine on September 28, 1986 with “Nothing in Common.”
The Garrick Theater closed with a grindhouse policy playing adult double features from 10:30a to 1a. The final shows on Labor Day 1951 were “Close-Ups of 1951” and “She’s in the Army Now.” To celebrate its 50th anniversary it was bulldozed.
George Angelich’s Rainbow Theater was located in a new-build venue leased by the St. Louis Electric Company in the Central Business District of St. Louis in 1911. The parade of better movie palaces had passed the Rainbow by in the early 1920s. But the theater chugged along with lesser film titles.
Surprisingly, on November 28, 1930, it converted to sound making it one of the last downtown movie theaters to convert to talkies with the film, “White Cargo” as the New Rainbow Theatre. Playing exploitation and fight films, the Rainbow disappeared without a pot of gold in 1933. It was converted to two spaces one for a tavern / lunch room and one for a retail store. After just 25 years, the entire building was demolished again in 1937.
Harve T. Nokes' original Elite Theatre in Nixa, Missouri operated from 1923 until April 19, 1930. The theatre was packed when a nitrate film fire sent flames into the theater. Somehow everyone got out uninjured prior to the theater burning to the ground. The film playing that night appropriately enough was Reginald Denny in “One Hysterical Night.”
Nokes wrote a plea into the letters column of a leading trade publication asking for blueprints for a 300-seat sound film house. He must have received a response as he rebuilt the theater relaunching it as the “new” Elite Theatre on May 28, 1931 with Clive Brook in “East Lynne.” Nearby Ozark, Missouri folks drove to the Elite for sound films as they didn’t have a sound film theater until October of 1936. On January 28, 1938, the new operator of the Elite was Lynn Martin.
Regular features stopped at the Elite on December 4, 1939 with John Garfield in “Dust Be My Destiny.” The venue was used for sporadic live events from 1939 to 1941. In 1942, the seats and everything else of value from inside the Elite was sold off. The folks from Nixa now had to drive to Ozark, Missouri for films which they could do all the way until the 1970s.
The Grand-Arsenal Theatre opened in 1909 at this address… an address in some ads listed as, “You know where it is” because of its descriptive cross-street themed name. The venue closed for a major upgrade that took it from nickelodeon to full fledged theater relaunching as the Arsenal Theater on January 29, 1916 with “The Coward” with Frank Keenan.
The venue converted to sound to remain viable. The Arsenal closed permanently on June 10, 1932 with “The World and the Flesh” and “The Famous Ferguson Case.”
The original Wellston Theater was created in the former Empire Hall in 1908. It went into receivership in 1912. The second Wellston Theater was on the south side of Easton and was a project announced in 1921 at $80,000. Its first ad appeared September 13, 1921 with Eileen Percy in “Hicksville to Broadway.” It converted to sound to remain viable.
Wellston Theater #2 burned totally to the ground on April 4, 1944 in a spectacular blaze. There’s an image in photos of the fire. Despite or, in fact, because of the blaze, the theatre still had two attendees thereafter who found a pathway from the ruins of the Wellston tunneling underground to the safe of the neighboring Commerce Jewelry Store robbing it of $29,000 in jewels, bonds and cash. They were not caught.
Wellston Theater (#3) launched in the exact same spot on Easton and just across the street from the St. Louis County Bus Company terminal on November 7, 1945. Its opening ad is in photos with “Christmas in Connecticut” and “Escape in the Desert.” The Wellston closed permanently on October 25, 1962 with “13 West Street.” It most decidedly wasn’t packing in audiences on weekends or any day. Wellston #3 was demolished and replaced with a new-build 9•0•5 Liquor Store.
The last paragraph above could simply be eliminated as I’m not sure they were referencing the St. Louis' Wellston.
The Gaslight Cinema opened October 25, 1963 with Melina Mercouri in “The Gypsy and the Gentleman.” It was part of the Musical Arts Building and specialized in foreign films. It closed two years later on December 12, 1965 with “The Bridge.
The Armo Airdome launched on June 13, 1936 with “Follow the Fleet” and “Wanderer of the Wasteland.” Within two weeks, it was renamed the Armo Skydome - a name it kept thoughout the next 16 years closing for the season on September 2, 1952 with “An American in Paris” and “Invitation.” It was demolished and replaced by a Cook’s Department Store.
The venue was created by the United Mine Workers Local 264 and it opened - according to the trade press and local press as Miners Theatre and is often referred to as Miners' Theatre. The keystone was laid by the St. Louis-based Kirsch Architectural firm on October 12, 1917. The entire structure was known as Miner’s Institute Building, a three-story structure housing the union offices , a community center, a library, a ballroom and the Miners Theatre which had live vaudeville, movies, and union meeting space at the outset.
In fact, the Miners Theatre’s first show on December 28, 1918 featured “The Sheriff” with Fatty Arbuckle, a Mary Pickford film and vaudeville star Lila Lee live. It was advertised as Miners Theatre. Architect Robert Kirsch’s Renaissance-designed the theatre including its tribute to mine workers on its exterior.
In 1929, the “new” Miners Theater grand opening occurred after it wried for sound to remain viable beginning with George Jessel in “Lucky Boy” on March 9, 1929. Mid-America Theatres took on the venue. Coal mining wound down in the 1960s and the board of trustees were notified that the company would be terminated its lease closing up on November 25, 1961.
In February of 1965, the Miners was reopened and “Sound of Music” was a major hit for the new operators in 1967. It appears to have closed September 2, 1968 with “King Kong Escapes” and “Journey to Shiloh.”
Florence Bloomer’s Bloomer Amusement Circuit - B.A.C. Theatres - bought the theatre on December 9, 1969. B.A.C. closed here as Miners (no apostrophe) Theatre on August 28, 1986 with “The Great Mouse Detective” and “Haunted Honeymoon.” It was reopened as a live events venue in 1988 and, after a period of inactivity, it was renovated (completed) and is thriving in the 2020s. It name is Miners Theatre although its Facebook site sometimes calls it Miner’s Theatre. Properly, it should be Miners Theater also known as Miners' Theatre.
The Nakeomi Shopping Center had launched theater-less with Kroger and W.T. Grant as anchors in 1963. In an expansion ten years later, the center added Mid-America’s Nameoki Cinema Twin on Friday July 27th, 1973 with “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” and “Class of ‘44”.
Florence Bloomer’s Bloomer Amusement Circuit - B.A.C. Theatres - of Belleville took on the Nakeomi from Mid-America. On December 18, 1986, Kerasotes took over B.A.C. Theatres including the Alton Cameo, Roxana Cinea, as Eastgate 1-2 in East Alton along with the Nameoki.
Kerasotes sailed along with the Nameoki Cinema twin until 2003 when the center wanted the cinema gone - as in demolished - after its 30-year leasing agreement expired. But there was a disagreement over the building rights so the theater continued short term while things got sorted out. They didn’t get sorted out. Kerasotes finally closed it permanently on October 17, 2004 with “Shark Tale” and “Friday Night Lights” due to “circumstances beyond” its control.
Mid-America Theatres closed here on December 4, 1980 with “Smokey & the Bandit II” and, appropriately enough, “Fade to Black.”
Closed October 29, 1987 taking a lease opt out with “Prince of Darkness” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
AMC closed the Cave Springs on Nov. 25, 1986 with “The Eye of the Tiger” and “The Wraith.” It opened the AMC Regency 8 to replace the Cave Springs.
Closed on January 1, 1988 with “Hiding Out.”
The Michigan Theatre appears to have closed after September 9, 1961 marathon of cartoons in a “Back to School” special event screening.
The Barracks Theatre opened at the Jefferson Barracks on January 2, 1947 with “Variety Girl” and “West of the Pecos” supported by a cartoon.
The Brentwood and Kirkwood theaters both closed July 31, 1986 as AMC was reducing its one screen locations. Lemay Theater operators Marty Tribl and Mark Friedrich were approached by AMC to sublease the venues until they were either sold or demolished (or both). They agreed. The Brentwood relaunched August 29, 1986 with the unfortunately title “The Money Pit.” The arrangement seems to have ended October 23, 1986 with “Legal Eagles.” It became an oriental rug outlet next.
The AMC South City closed as a sub-run, discount $1 theatre with “The Naked Gun” and “Accidental Tourist” splitting with “Tap” on March 30, 1989.
Closed April 28, 1988 with “Switching Channels” with “Prince of Darkness” splitting a screen with “The Serpent & the Rainbow.”
Mid Rivers Mall opened on October 14, 1987 by May Co’s May Centers, the parent company of legendary St. Louis retailer Famous-Barr who anchored there at launch. The project was about six years behind its original, targeted opening date. And General Cinema’s interest in opening a multiplex there dated back to 1982.
The 1,400 seat General Cinema Mid Rivers was announced as a neighbor to the Paddlewheel Express Food Court with two larger, 400-seat auditoria for the major releases. They finally launched in the mall on December 9, 1988. At that point, GCC had St. Louis-area multiplexes in Mid Rivers, the venerable Lindbergh and the Northwest Plazas, and the outlying Jamestown Mall, Chesterfield Mall, and Sunset Hills Plaza. St. Louis would turn out not to be GCC’s Gateway City. Less than a year after its launch in Mid Rivers, Wehrenberg Theatres bought out all 32 GCC screens effective November 1, 1989. This venue was renamed to the Wehrenberg-preferred label of “ciné” becoming the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné.
Th megaplex era took hold in the mid-1990s and dated mutliplexes all over the country were on the bubble. The chain decided to go big closing the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné March 21, 1999 and announcing a revamped 14-screen facility that would launch at year’s end on December 10, 1999 - as the Mid Rivers 14 Ciné.
In November of 2016, Marcus Corp. bought the Wehrenberg locations and it would eventually change the name of this venue to the Mid Rivers Cinema. A major post-COVID pandemic refresh included a bar and one of the Marcus' SuperScreen DLX large premium format auditoriums at its May 7, 2021 reboot after a three-month closure. Marcus' Mid Rivers Cinema was still operating in the 2020s.
The Baden Family Theater launched in 1913. In 1921, it was called the Baden Theatre. The Kaiman Brothers Circuit gave it an interior streamline refresh in 1937. It closed on April 25, 1965 with “So Dear to My Heart” and “The Quick Gun.” It became Towne Hall North, a party rental / banquet space.
Arthur Brothers Enterprises Circuit opened June 11, 1965 with “She.” But 12 years later, Arthur Circuit was in free fall and closed ten theaters late Summer of 1977 in financial reorganization. The Lewis & Clark was one such theater as property owner Civic Center Redevelopment Corp. said that $50,000 in unpaid rent was due on the Lewis & Clark and the Stadium I & II in downtown St. Louis. $200,000 in unpaid rent was found at other properties.
The Lewis & Clark divestiture took place when Civic found an immediate new operator in Mid-America Theatres. The new operator relaunched with a gala reopening on July 17, 1978 playing “Saturday Night Fever.” Mid-America decided not to extend past the 25-year leasing period closing with “Return of the Dragon” and “Game of Death” on August 30, 1980. From a mapping standpoint, the venue was at 9973 Lewis and Clark Blvd.
In 1980, Mid-America Theaters took on the Mann’s Mark Twain Theatre retaining that name. In July 1982, Wehrenberg took on the of Mann’s Mark Twin Cine still under that name until changing the name not long after to the Mark Twain Cine to be consistent with its other venues. It closed as the Mark Twain Cine on September 28, 1986 with “Nothing in Common.”
The Cypress Village Twin closed permanently on January 29, 1987 with “Lady and the Tramp”. and “The Color of Money.”
Henry Wald’s son, Danny, ended the World on March 3, 1974 with “The Great Massage Parlor Bust.” Within two months, the venue was gone without a trace.
The Garrick Theater closed with a grindhouse policy playing adult double features from 10:30a to 1a. The final shows on Labor Day 1951 were “Close-Ups of 1951” and “She’s in the Army Now.” To celebrate its 50th anniversary it was bulldozed.
George Angelich’s Rainbow Theater was located in a new-build venue leased by the St. Louis Electric Company in the Central Business District of St. Louis in 1911. The parade of better movie palaces had passed the Rainbow by in the early 1920s. But the theater chugged along with lesser film titles.
Surprisingly, on November 28, 1930, it converted to sound making it one of the last downtown movie theaters to convert to talkies with the film, “White Cargo” as the New Rainbow Theatre. Playing exploitation and fight films, the Rainbow disappeared without a pot of gold in 1933. It was converted to two spaces one for a tavern / lunch room and one for a retail store. After just 25 years, the entire building was demolished again in 1937.
Harve T. Nokes' original Elite Theatre in Nixa, Missouri operated from 1923 until April 19, 1930. The theatre was packed when a nitrate film fire sent flames into the theater. Somehow everyone got out uninjured prior to the theater burning to the ground. The film playing that night appropriately enough was Reginald Denny in “One Hysterical Night.”
Nokes wrote a plea into the letters column of a leading trade publication asking for blueprints for a 300-seat sound film house. He must have received a response as he rebuilt the theater relaunching it as the “new” Elite Theatre on May 28, 1931 with Clive Brook in “East Lynne.” Nearby Ozark, Missouri folks drove to the Elite for sound films as they didn’t have a sound film theater until October of 1936. On January 28, 1938, the new operator of the Elite was Lynn Martin.
Regular features stopped at the Elite on December 4, 1939 with John Garfield in “Dust Be My Destiny.” The venue was used for sporadic live events from 1939 to 1941. In 1942, the seats and everything else of value from inside the Elite was sold off. The folks from Nixa now had to drive to Ozark, Missouri for films which they could do all the way until the 1970s.
The Grand-Arsenal Theatre opened in 1909 at this address… an address in some ads listed as, “You know where it is” because of its descriptive cross-street themed name. The venue closed for a major upgrade that took it from nickelodeon to full fledged theater relaunching as the Arsenal Theater on January 29, 1916 with “The Coward” with Frank Keenan.
The venue converted to sound to remain viable. The Arsenal closed permanently on June 10, 1932 with “The World and the Flesh” and “The Famous Ferguson Case.”
The original Wellston Theater was created in the former Empire Hall in 1908. It went into receivership in 1912. The second Wellston Theater was on the south side of Easton and was a project announced in 1921 at $80,000. Its first ad appeared September 13, 1921 with Eileen Percy in “Hicksville to Broadway.” It converted to sound to remain viable.
Wellston Theater #2 burned totally to the ground on April 4, 1944 in a spectacular blaze. There’s an image in photos of the fire. Despite or, in fact, because of the blaze, the theatre still had two attendees thereafter who found a pathway from the ruins of the Wellston tunneling underground to the safe of the neighboring Commerce Jewelry Store robbing it of $29,000 in jewels, bonds and cash. They were not caught.
Wellston Theater (#3) launched in the exact same spot on Easton and just across the street from the St. Louis County Bus Company terminal on November 7, 1945. Its opening ad is in photos with “Christmas in Connecticut” and “Escape in the Desert.” The Wellston closed permanently on October 25, 1962 with “13 West Street.” It most decidedly wasn’t packing in audiences on weekends or any day. Wellston #3 was demolished and replaced with a new-build 9•0•5 Liquor Store.
The last paragraph above could simply be eliminated as I’m not sure they were referencing the St. Louis' Wellston.
The Gaslight Cinema opened October 25, 1963 with Melina Mercouri in “The Gypsy and the Gentleman.” It was part of the Musical Arts Building and specialized in foreign films. It closed two years later on December 12, 1965 with “The Bridge.
The Armo Airdome launched on June 13, 1936 with “Follow the Fleet” and “Wanderer of the Wasteland.” Within two weeks, it was renamed the Armo Skydome - a name it kept thoughout the next 16 years closing for the season on September 2, 1952 with “An American in Paris” and “Invitation.” It was demolished and replaced by a Cook’s Department Store.
The Armo Airdome launched on June 13, 1936 with “Follow the Fleet” and “Wanderer of the Wasteland.”