Omro Theatre

Joe Vogel on January 3, 2014 at 11:56 am

A brochure with a walking tour of Omro (PDF here) has this to say about the Omro Theatre:

“205 S. Webster Avenue Omro Theater Building, 1937. One of the few buildings in Omro’s downtown built during the Depression years was this fine late Art Deco-style movie theater, which was built using federal W.P.A. funds. Although simple in design, the massive buttresses that line its sides give it a monumentality that is unusual for such a small building. During World War II shell casings were manufactured in the basement by the Speed Queen Corp. while movies were being shown in the theater. Later a ladder factory occupied the basement”

There is a small photo of the theater, with the marquee that has since been removed.

Prior to the opening of this house, citizens of Omro could see movies at a house called the High School Annex Theatre, which was located in a multi-purpose building built at the high school in 1934. In 1937, the January 14 issue of The Film Daily reported that the name had been changed simply to Annex Theatre. I don’t know if it continued to operate once the new Omro Tehatre was opened.

Before the Annex was built, there was another house called the Omro Theatre, operated by Donald Jones, which was mentioned in the January 23, 1933, issue of The Film Daily. Even earlier, Omro had a theater called the Gem, mentioned in the January 3, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World.