Rose Theatre
318 Broadway Street,
Audubon,
IA
50025
318 Broadway Street,
Audubon,
IA
50025
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Related Websites
Rose Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated Theatres
Architects: F.R. Thompson
Functions: Movies (First Run)
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Crescent Theatre, Audubon Theatre, Broadway Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
712.563.3259
Nearby Theaters
The Crescent Theatre was opened by 1916. It was renamed Audubon Theatre in 1932, and returned back to Crescent Theatre in 1933. It was renamed Broadway Theatre from 1934 until 194 when it was closed for rebuilding.
Rebuilt in 1940 to the plans of owner/architect F.R. Thompson with seating listed at 358 and reopened as the Rose Theatre. During the mid-1990’s it was operated by Associated Theatres. This is another theatre that has a video store in the lobby. It was closed for renovation in March 2016 and has since reopened.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Do you have any information on who owned the theatre in the 1920’s. I think it was my mother-in-law.
An article in the August 17, 1940, issue of Boxoffice has a paragraph mentioning the Rose Theatre and its owner-operator, F.R. Thompson. Mr. Thompson was celebrating his 59th birthday and had recently completed construction of a new house for himself and his wife. Quoth Boxoffice writer Rene Clayton: “Mr. Thompson, who is a very fine architect if we are to judge by the Rose which he designed and built practically single-handed, designed and built the new Thompson home as well.”
This reopened some time ago, looks like 2018. Sadly, the vitrolite facade was replaced with bland new paneling. They have a website, but their FB is a better source of information: https://www.facebook.com/rosemovietheater
The history is wrong, and the photo of the Crescent added by dmt is this same theater. I found an old postcard showing the Crescent (with no name on the front) right where the Rose is today. I suspect the 1924 date is a name change, or just wrong. In fact, in the photo used here, with more vitrolite missing than when I saw it, it looks like the brick is the same design as the Crescent.
The 1926 FDY lists only a 350-seat house called the Crescent at Audubon. The earliest mention of the Crescent I’ve found is in the March 4, 1922 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review: “AUDUBON, IOWA.— Dan Nelson is now operating the Crsecent.”
Although the theater in Audubon is consistently listed by the FDY with 350 seats, the name Rose does not appear until the 1941 edition, so that renaming must have accompanied the rebuilding in 1940. But there were earlier renamings. In the 1932 edition it is listed as the Audubon Theatre, it went back to Crescent in 1933, and in 1934 through 1940 it was listed as the Broadway Theatre.
dmt says the picture is from 1916, and the postcard I found looks quite old. All I can say for sure is that it was built after 1913.