Vinton Palace Theatre

210 W. 4th Street,
Vinton, IA 52349

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 26, 2025 at 4:31 pm

The February 3, 1917 issue of Motion Picture News featured an article about the Palace Theatre of Vinton, Iowa, which included the following information:

:“THE Palace theatre of Vinton, Iowa, one of the many motion picture houses owned and operated by the Palace Theatre Company, is under the management of Mr. Arthur G. Stotle who is one of the ‘Live Wire Exhibitors’ of Iowa.

“The theatre was designed by W. F. Brown, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was completed and opened during the year of 1915, and is probably one of the most modern and best equipped theatres in that section of the country.

“The theatre is constructed of brick, concrete and steel, measuring 66 feet in width and 150 feet in depth including stage.”

The entire article can be read at this Internet Archive link. There is a small photo of the front of the house.

SethG
SethG on December 11, 2024 at 12:16 am

This was part of the Kerr Theatres circuit for at least a few years around 1960.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on May 21, 2024 at 6:04 pm

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”.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 11, 2009 at 9:59 pm

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.