Strand Theatre
910 Central Avenue,
Fort Dodge,
IA
50501
910 Central Avenue,
Fort Dodge,
IA
50501
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Central States Theatres Corp, Paramount Pictures Inc.
Nearby Theaters
The Strand Theatre opened on November 28, 1916 with Francis X Bushman in “Romeo and Juliet”. In 1927 it was equipped with a Barton 2 manual 4 ranks organ. It fell under the Central States Theatres banner in the early-1930’s. In the 1940’s it was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary A.H. Blank. It closed in the late-1960’s. Seating was listed at 572. Central States Theatres controlled the market in Fort Dodge for many years.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Here is an October 1949 ad from the Fort Dodge Messenger:
http://tinyurl.com/kwfxno
From the mid 1950s a photo postcard image of the Strand in Fort Dodge.
Unless something happened to the original building, or the name was moved to a different house, the Strand Theatre dates to 1916. Here is an item from the July 16 issue of The Moving Picture World
The Strand Theatre changed hands in 1917, as reported in the September 1 issue of MPW:The actual opening date is November 28, 1916 with Francis X. Bushman in “Romeo And Juliet”, and was first managed by Edward Awe. The building where the Strand is was originally called the “Butler Building”, and the building itself was built on the site of an another building that was destroyed by a fire earlier that year. This was the third motion picture theater to open in Fort Dodge.
The Strand originally housed 556 seats when it opened, and some original information includes two sets of projectors in the balcony, restrooms in the basement, a ventilating system that changes cycles every two minutes, and an $8,000 Bartola pipe organ.
Address is wrong. As you can see from the picture, this was behind the post office. Must have been 910-912. That was originally the Sanderson Building, constructed between 1896 and 1900. The July 1916 Sanborn shows it ‘Gutted by Fire, Being Remodeled’ The post office was torn down in 1964, and this whole block is now covered by a really repulsive ‘modern’ one story thing, which looks like a depressing little mall.
The Strand was supposedly remodeled into the Astro late in its existence. The garbage ‘Trolley Center’ was supposedly built in 1964, with an extension in the ‘70s. If the original portion didn’t destroy the theater, the extension surely did.