Strand Theatre
910 Central Avenue,
Fort Dodge,
IA
50501
910 Central Avenue,
Fort Dodge,
IA
50501
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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.
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 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.
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:From the mid 1950s a photo postcard image of the Strand in Fort Dodge.
Here is an October 1949 ad from the Fort Dodge Messenger:
http://tinyurl.com/kwfxno