
Hetrick Theater
East Main Street,
Chanute,
KS
66720
East Main Street,
Chanute,
KS
66720
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Billy Smith / Don Lewis / Billy Smith

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The Hetrick Theatre dated to the late 19th century, and was also known as the Hetrick Opera House. The 1904 Cahn Guide lists it as a 1,050-seat second-floor theater. This photo shows that it was a three-story building in the Romanesque Revival style.
The Emporia Gazette of July 20, 1925, reported that half a block of business buildings at Chanute, Illinois, had been destroyed on July 10 by fire that had started in the Hetrick Theatre. The total loss was estimated at $500,000.
It’s possible that the Hetrick dated from the very early 20th century. The earliest reference to it I can find in Julius Chan’s guides is in the edition of 1904-1905.
A newspaper page from the Norwood News, dated November 7, without a year displayed but from the period 1903-1905, has this item about the Hetrick Opera House:
As the Hetrick Opera House is mentioned in the February 13, 1904, issue of The Billboard, it must have opened either in 1903 or in early 1904.The address was 220-224 E Main. The block is in pitiful shape, with only the 2 story building just to the left of the white (wooden?) building remaining. The site of the theater is a parking lot.
Needs a history written up with the information Joe provided. The dates must be correct. The Jan. 1902 Sanborn shows a small wooden hotel on this corner.