Civic Theatre
635 E. Third Street,
Osceola,
MO
64776
635 E. Third Street,
Osceola,
MO
64776
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Charles Borg launched the new-build New Civic Theatre on Oct. 3, 1946 with “One More Tomorrow”. It replaced Borg’s New Osceola Theatre which he bought in 1931. It had previously been the Electric Theatre - a silent operation from 1910 to 1930. The theatre ran into 1995 but appears to have stalled prior to its 50th Anniversary when new operators weren’t finding new patrons.
There was a whole slew of names for theatres in Osceola. They might have started out as the Grand but by 1929 there was a Paramount Theatre 250 seats, 1929 Cason Theatre 250 seats, 1933 Osceola Theatre 250 seats, 1945 Arcadia Theatre 250 seats. The first year the Civic Theatre was listed was in 1947 with seating listed at 406. The Arcadia was still listed as open in 1948 but gone by 1949.
An item in the January 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that a new theater called the Grand had opened in Osceola, Missouri. I’ve been unable to discover if the Grand was the same house that became the Civic, but Osceola being as small as it is, it’s possible that it only ever had the one theater. The building the Civic is in is typical of commercial structures built during the 1910s.