Amus-U Theater
108 W. Main Street,
La Harpe,
IL
61450
108 W. Main Street,
La Harpe,
IL
61450
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107 Main is just what their newspaper listings say - the utility moved into the Leavitt Building.
Not quite sure where the Leavitt could have been. If you’re saying it was 107, that’s the south side of Main, and can’t have been on the square. 107 E Main is part of an old tin front that’s still just barely hanging on. If it was in the 100 block west, and it was not the building that later became the Amus-U, then it’s likely still there, but I can’t identify a good candidate from the maps. The NRHP listing is very old, and therefore done to a pretty poor standard. There’s very little history of buildings, and most are only identified by address.
Perfect! Also, the Park Theatre moved from the Odd Fellows building in 1926 when the Towler Brothers' K&T Hatchery took a long-term lease of the Odd Fellows Building for their hatchery. Whoops. So the Park Theatre was only in the Odd Fellows Building until August of 1926. So I moved that long entry to the Locke’s Opera House.
For the Airdome, obviously demolished, it was likely at 203, which on the 1912 map is a vacant lot between a garage/dealership on the corner (feed mill on the 1906 map) and a blacksmith. All buildings are the same between 1906 and 1912.
Okay, Looks like Depot was called Old Depot by 1893, was 5th St by 1898, and was 1st St by 1906. It was probably south of Main St, and has definitely been demolished. Everything on the 1906 map is the same on the 1912 map, so I’m not sure where it might have been. Best candidate might be a farm implement dealer which was on the west side, just south of the alley.
Airdome entry is now complete. It is described as being near or at 201 E. Main so we’ll call that good enough. The Frank Leavitt Building was on the North Side of the Square which became the Western Illinois Utility Company office (if that is helpful) after Hatcher left his Hatcher Photoplay Theatre on June 9, 1919. The Utility Company was on Depot Street / Old Depot Street only for three years before moving to 107 Main.
One correction above is that William Moon is credited with opening the Park Theatre on June 25, 1919 (not Hatcher as above). The Toledo, Peoria and Western Depot in La Harpe was the reason it had a Depot Street.
The new listings would be the Airdome (which does not appear on the March 1912 map), the Silver Cloud (complicated by the fact that there never was any such thing as Depot St), and the New Electric (if we can figure out what the Leavitt building was).
Based on the information we have from the NRHP and Joe, and I, this opened as the Princess, and became the Amus-U. It’s completely separate from the Park. The 1926 map still shows this building as a store.
If the Park opened in the Odd Fellows building, then this was never the Park. The Odd Fellows is on a different street.
Laharpe also had a theatre called the Airdome in 1915.
SethG is probably correct about the theater being at 108 W. Main. Views at Historic Aerials show the building at 108 W. Main being somewhat deeper than most of its neighbors, while still not extending all the way back the the alley, yet certainly big enough to have held a 350-seat theater. It was still standing in 1998, but gone by 2005.
This web page is about Elsie Magin who, with her husband Howard, was the last owner of the Amus-U Theatre, having bought it from Ralph Todd in 1952. It says that after converting the theater into a bowling alley in 1958, the Magins had to adopt an early closing time due to complaints from residents of the apartments upstairs about the noise.
Map marker is completely wrong. I’m not sure the building in the photo was the theater. The NRHP listing (which does have some typos/mistakes) lists the building at 108 W Main as a theater, then bowling alley. It was built 1888, vacant in 1987, and it’s been torn down. The building in the photo is 122 W Main, which is listed (incorrectly as 102) as being built in 1919 as a garage. The only copy of the listing I found is missing the photos, but I am pretty sure I’ve got this all straight. Looking at the building in the photo from the alley, the two story portion is only the very front. The rear is low and has a lot of windows. Not very theater-like. I’d say the photo is not the theater, and the listing should be changed to demolished.
Funny name!!
Konrad Schiecke’s Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois says that the theater in LaHarpe opened as the Princess in 1929 and was renamed the Amuse-U in 1934. The following year it had to be rebuilt following a fire.
From Boxoffice in June 1958:
LaHARPE, ILL.-Howard Magin has converted the Amus-U Theatre here into a bowling alley.