Palace Theatre

The Palace Theatre was originally E.M. Penney’s Opera House. I’m having trouble tracking down its origin. An opera house was built in Waupaca in the late 1880s, but there’s also a reference saying that it burned down in 1904. The Arcadia Publishing Company’s book “Waupaca” by Kim J. Heltemes (Google Books link) has photos of the Palace both before and after a 1939 remodeling, one of which shows the side wall. Both the facade and the side wall look as though they could have been built in the 1880s. However, I’ve been unable to find any listings for a theater in Waupaca in Julius Cahn’s Guide.

The Farmers State Bank web page that Lost Memory linked to has moved here. It says that the bank “…moved to the old Palace Theatre site at 112 W. Fulton….” in 1966, so it’s possible that the theater building had already been demolished by that time.

C. W. Nelson was the architect.

The Palace opened on October 4, 1920 with the stage production of “The Old Homestead.”

In 1937 the Palace was remodeled.
The orchestra pit and organ were taken out.
(The organ was sold to a church in Stevens Point Wisconsin.)
New seats were installed.
A new ticket booth was built.
The projection booth was revamped.

The Palace was operated until January 15, 1957.
The last film was “Seven Men From the Nile.”