Iowa Theatre
735 Avenue H,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
735 Avenue H,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Central States Theatres Corp, Universal Chain Theatrical Enterprises Inc.
Architects: Robin B. Carswell
Firms: Owen, Payson & Carswell
Previous Names: Ebinger Grand Opera House, Grand Theatre, Columbia Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Ebinger Grand Opera House was opened in the 1873. It later became the Grand Theatre. It suffered a fire in spring of 1922. It reopened as the Columbia Theatre on November 4, 1922 and operated until 1931. Closed for a while, it reopened as the Iowa Theatre 1934 with seating listed at 599. The theatre closed in the early-1950’s. I found information that it was operated at one time by Central States Theatres.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Boxoffice of December 12, 1953, said that the Iowa Theatre at Fort Madison was one of three theaters in the state that had closed the previous week. The item gave some of the history of the house, which had been the oldest theater in Fort Madison.
Prior to becoming the Iowa Theatre in the 1930s, it had operated as the Grand Theatre and then the Columbia Theatre, being for several decades a venue for touring companies of stage productions. The building had originally been erected in the 1880s as a skating rink. The house was listed as the Grand in Julius Cahn’s guide for 1900-1901. It then had 908 seats.
My Mom lived in Fort Madison, Iowa during the 1940’s-early 1950’s. An avid moviegoer, she mentioned the Iowa Theatre frequently. Thanks for the information about it.
JudithK: Did your mom ever mention anything about the location of this theater? The Avenue A address Cinema Treasures currently gives is in a low density residential district out on the edge of town, which seems to me an unlikely location for a theater built in the 1880s.
I’m wondering if maybe the original source was an old book with muddy printing, and maybe the theater was on Avenue H but the printed H looked like an A. The 700 block of Avenue H is downtown, and still has several old buildings dating from the late 19th century, including the old Elks Lodge at 719.
Unfortunately, it looks like 735 Avenue H is now a parking lot, so if the Iowa Theatre was there it desn’t exist anymore. But wherever the theater was (or is,) it seems very unlikely that it was ever on Avenue A.
The address of the Grand Theatre in a 1918 directory was 735 Front Street. Front Street is now called Avenue H. The March 14, 1925 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Columbia Theatre:
Capitol Enterprises was formed on February 24, 1922, by Sam Harding, according to the 1922 FDY. At some point in the 1920s, Capitol Enterprises became a subsidiary of the Universal Chain Theatres Corporation.The name Columbia Theatre dates from 1922. This item from the December issue of Stone and Webster Journal that year tells of its opening:
The opening of the Columbia Theatre occasioned a special section of the Fort Madison Evening Democrat of November 4, 1922. Among the congratulatory ads was one from the architects of the theater, the from of Owen, Payson & Carswell, who had their main office in Kansas City, Missouri, and a branch office in Fort Madison. It is likely that Robin B. Carswell was the lead architect on this project, as he headed the Fort Madison office of the firm. Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson worked out of Kansas City. The firm was dissolved in 1925 and thereafter Carswell ran the Fort Madison office as an independent architect.The Columbia Theatre is last listed in the FDY in 1931, and the Iowa first appears in 1935, so the house was likely closed from some time in 1931 until reopening as the Iowa in 1934. The 1909-1910 Cahn guide lists the Grand as the Ebinger Grand Theatre, a ground floor house with 1,000 seats. The lower capacity of the Columbia/Iowa was probably the result of not rebuilding a gallery after the 1922 fire.
I don’t know what’s wrong with Google Maps these days, but they keep fetching the wrong locations for buildings even when we give them the right address. Even this map direct from Google is a bit off. An 1889 Sanborn map of Fort Madison shows Edward Ebinger’s Opera House to the left of the building Google marks as 335 (the building with the pin icon is actually 325, currently home of the Lost Duck Brewing Company.) Anyway, the Iowa Theatre was next door to the west of that building, where there is now a parking lot.
Additional history credit North Lee County Historical Society. Accompanied the 1960 photo credit John Enslow added to gallery. Confirms address as 735 Avenue H. Original name was Ebinger Grand Opera House.
“A blast from the past at 735 Avenue H - The Ebinger Grand Opera House photo taken in 1960 by John Enslow a long time projectionist at local theatres. It had seen better days before razed for the Pen City parking lot. Built in 1872-73 and opened in 1873. In 1908 it was listed in Julius Cohn’s National Theatrical guide with seating for 1,000 with illumination using gas & electric. Fred Podeyn was the stage carpenter and a 7 member orchestra led by John Stein. This historian remembers attending many motion pictures here mainly Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis and many westerns when Dick Gaston ran the Iowa Theatre. It had many staged performances, high school graduations, and some shows with Dennis O'Keefe the Fort Madison born actor. The history is to long to publish. It replaced the Bennett Roller Skating Rink that burned in 1870.”