Vinton Palace Theatre
210 W. 4th Street,
Vinton,
IA
52349
210 W. 4th Street,
Vinton,
IA
52349
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Related Websites
Vinton Palace Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Kerr Theatres
Functions: Movies (First Run)
Previous Names: Palace Enterprises Theatre
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The Palace Theatre in Vinton, Iowa opened on October 14, 1915 as a silent movie theatre and was also used for live performances. Original seating was around 500. Over the years this theater survived fires and was remodeled numerous times.
The Palace Theatre closed in 1973, but briefly reopened as the Palace Enterprises Theatre in early-1974, closing later in 1974. The building was then used for retail purposes including a bakery, a game arcade and a gymnasium.
On December 1, 1997, the building was purchased by the Area Community Theatre Inc. The theatre was renovated again, reopening on November 14, 1999 with Julia Roberts in “Runaway Bride”. It is now used as a movie theatre and a theater for house plays by ACT I of Benton County.
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
This is an item dated 12/10/59 from the Waterloo Daily Courier:
VINTON â€" Announcement was made Tuesday by Ernest D. Kammerer, manager of the Vinton Palace theater since 1946, that the theater will be closed after Tuesday night’s show, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Lack of patronage was given by Kammerer as the reason for closing the theater.
Closing of the movie house marks the first time Vinton has been without a motion picture house in more than 50 years. The Palace Theater is the property of Earl W. Kerr of Pine, Colo. He bought the theater in 1943 from the late H. S. Waldorf. The large brick building on West 4th St. occupied by the theater is the property of Berl G. Alcorn of Vinton. No announcement has been made as to what will be done with the building.
The Palace Theatre actually was still open in 1972 and 1973. According to what I searched from the archives of the Cedar Valley Daily Times, showtimes continued at the Palace into the next couple of years as a first-run theater. However for a very short time in early 1974, the theater went under the name “Palace Enterprises Theatre” for a very short time and began screening a mix of second/third-run family-oriented films.
It appears that it did not have that much of a success, and the Palace Theatre closed in 1974. Then it was used for retail purposes into the next two decades.
Act One took at least almost three years for the Palace Theatre to renovate. After all the hard work, the Palace Theatre reopened back as a first-run movie house on November 14, 1999 with “Runaway Bride”.
This was part of the Kerr Theatres circuit for at least a few years around 1960.