The Grand Theater (as the Village Theatre was originally known) was originally built at this location in 1906 and was, at the time, the finest Opera House around..and was even compared to houses in Chicago.
A fire in 1922 destroyed most of the south side of the Knoxville Square, including the Grand. The theater was rebuilt but with a different footprint. Some of our research shows the building/parcel was narrowed from 60' to 40' wide – to better reflect the space needs of film vs. live theater, we assume.
The Black family ran the Grand for many years through the 30’s and 40’s and continued to own the building after their ownership in the business ended. The Blacks were actually the ones to (majorly) update the facade last. Sometime between 1936 and 1938, the brick face of the building was covered in large glass tiles more evocative of the Art Deco style. Shortly thereafter, the Armistice Day freeze of 1941 actually shattered those tiles off the building, at which point, the steel siding was installed in approximately the same pattern.
Kerr Theaters became the owners of both the building and the business at some point after that – not sure of the timeline exactly.
Carl Schwanebeck and his family moved to Knoxville from Perry, Iowa where he had managed the theater for some time. In Knoxville, he managed both The Grand and Marion Theaters for a while, and eventually took ownership of the Grand. Shortly after assuming ownership, the name was changed to the Village Theatre.
Sometime in the early 70’s, the theater was updated to include a renovated lobby and bathroom area, the neon “Grand” sign was removed from the facade (as it was badly rusted and in poor working order), and the theater was twinned and renamed the Village Theatre 2. There were several other renovations over the years including the addition and later removal of the Video Mart which the Schwanebecks replicated all across Iowa and the upper Midwest.
The Schwanebecks sold the theater business in the 90’s and it eventually ended up a part of the Fridley chain of theaters. After several years in business in Knoxville, Fridley decided (as elsewhere) to close the theater and refocus their business on larger multi-screen facilities. That was September 2011.
At this point, our group is organizing and raising funds to purchase the theater and renovate the exterior in such a way that evokes the look of the building as it stood in the 1930’s. The interior will need updates to all the major systems and a new digital projection system.
There is significant interest in this project and we have faith that our fundraising goals will be fairly easily met. That said, if anyone knows of any resources we should investigate, we’d be very interested to hear them!
A couple thoughts on the Village Theatre:
The Grand Theater (as the Village Theatre was originally known) was originally built at this location in 1906 and was, at the time, the finest Opera House around..and was even compared to houses in Chicago. A fire in 1922 destroyed most of the south side of the Knoxville Square, including the Grand. The theater was rebuilt but with a different footprint. Some of our research shows the building/parcel was narrowed from 60' to 40' wide – to better reflect the space needs of film vs. live theater, we assume.
The Black family ran the Grand for many years through the 30’s and 40’s and continued to own the building after their ownership in the business ended. The Blacks were actually the ones to (majorly) update the facade last. Sometime between 1936 and 1938, the brick face of the building was covered in large glass tiles more evocative of the Art Deco style. Shortly thereafter, the Armistice Day freeze of 1941 actually shattered those tiles off the building, at which point, the steel siding was installed in approximately the same pattern.
Kerr Theaters became the owners of both the building and the business at some point after that – not sure of the timeline exactly.
Carl Schwanebeck and his family moved to Knoxville from Perry, Iowa where he had managed the theater for some time. In Knoxville, he managed both The Grand and Marion Theaters for a while, and eventually took ownership of the Grand. Shortly after assuming ownership, the name was changed to the Village Theatre.
Sometime in the early 70’s, the theater was updated to include a renovated lobby and bathroom area, the neon “Grand” sign was removed from the facade (as it was badly rusted and in poor working order), and the theater was twinned and renamed the Village Theatre 2. There were several other renovations over the years including the addition and later removal of the Video Mart which the Schwanebecks replicated all across Iowa and the upper Midwest.
The Schwanebecks sold the theater business in the 90’s and it eventually ended up a part of the Fridley chain of theaters. After several years in business in Knoxville, Fridley decided (as elsewhere) to close the theater and refocus their business on larger multi-screen facilities. That was September 2011.
At this point, our group is organizing and raising funds to purchase the theater and renovate the exterior in such a way that evokes the look of the building as it stood in the 1930’s. The interior will need updates to all the major systems and a new digital projection system.
There is significant interest in this project and we have faith that our fundraising goals will be fairly easily met. That said, if anyone knows of any resources we should investigate, we’d be very interested to hear them!