People's Theatre

Joe Vogel on March 31, 2026 at 11:56 am

The 1907 Sanborn map of Kansas City shows the People’s Theatre at 640 Minnesota Avenue. Sadly, the building has since been demolished.

The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he People’s theater of Kansas City which has been closed for a year, will open September 11 under new management. It will be known hereafter as the Columbian.” Most likely it had become part of the Columbian Amusement Company, which operated a circuit of vaudeville and burlesque houses in the region at least into the mid-1920s.

Operation as a live venue could account for the absence of the house from the 1914-1915 AMPD. It isn’t listed in the 1926 FDY either, though I suppose it could have operated under a different name by then. The building was eventually converted for retail use, as a photo from the 1960s shows a men’s clothing store in part of it, and the modernized façade looks like it might have dated from the 1940s or early 1950s.

robboehm on August 2, 2015 at 10:49 am

Johnny any address, seating capacity or anything else to flesh out the heading?

mlind on August 1, 2015 at 1:58 pm

Picture http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/305895