Vermillion Theater

Joe Vogel on May 2, 2024 at 2:52 am

This article from the August 22, 2014 Vermillion Plain Talk tells of the closing of the Vermillion Theatre. A leaky roof at the Coyote Twin had damaged on of the twin’s digital projectors, and the Vermillion was closed and its digital projector was moved to the Coyote to keep that house running. Both theaters were owned by Jack March.

Another article, this from the web site of South Dakota Magazine and dated August 13, 2015 says that Jack March sold the theaters that year, and both were taken over by a new organization called the Vermillion Downtown Cultural Association.

The first article said that the Vermillion Theatre had been operating for 43 years, which would have given it an opening year of 1971, but a house called the Vermillion Theatre was being operated here by the March Brothers by 1938, as it was listed that year in the FDY along with the Coyote Theatre. The article also says the house was once called the March Theatre, which might be the case. The second article says that the Vermillion Theatre had been built in 1918, which also seems wrong to me. Locals don’t seem to have kept track of their theater history very well, so this could prove pretty difficult to sort out.

SethG on April 28, 2024 at 2:14 pm

I wonder if this wasn’t the first Coyote? The 2001 NRHP listing shows this theater with an older marquee. Unfortunately the picture is very poorly reproduced, but it appears to be rectangular. If that’s true, this operated since sometime around 1940.

Trolleyguy on July 9, 2016 at 12:26 pm

Currently closed. Fund-raising is going on to renovate and reopen. Website: http://www.vermilliontheaters.com/