Temple Theater

This is Temple Theatre #2. Temple Theatre #1 was a 400-seat auditorium constructed in 1901 and was carved out of a space adjoining the Masonic Temple. Around 1908 it worked some film into the live stage events but he Grand Theatre in Kane did most of the film business in the silent era with the Star Theatre also coming on board. And the Temple didn’t shift to film-centric presentation until December of 1915 with the signing of a exclusive contract with Triangle Films. That proved to be a great move. The theatre’s last showing was “The Circus” with a huge crowd on February 23, 1924. A huge fire broke out the next day and — with temperatures around 10 below zero – the fire department couldn’t prevent the Temple from burning to the ground along with the Masonic Temple and three other neighboring businesses.

The new Temple Theatre was constructed on the site remaining in place into the 21st Century. The 1,000 plus seater launched June 8, 1925 opening with “Sally.” The theatre was closed for a major revamp in 1936 when the owners also purchased the building which had held the closed Chase Street Theatre converting it to the Kane Theatre. And the Temple continued to the video era as a theatre.