Bonaventure Theatre

Joe Vogel on April 22, 2018 at 5:08 pm

2317 Independence Avenue is on the south side of Independence opposite the end of Olive Street. There is a modern building there now which uses that number for a nondescript storefront in between the LB7 Insurance Agency and the Holy Land Halal Market.

In 1886 a hostelry called the Bonaventure Hotel was built at 2307 Independence Avenue, and I suspect that the theater was either part of the hotel project or a later addition to it. It might be that the theater’s building can be partly seen at far left in this undated photo of the hotel.

The photo looks to have been taken in the 1930s, judging from the streamlined style of one of the cars parked along the street. The theater might have been closed by the time this photo was made, but the building looks like it has an open lobby-style entrance flanked by a storefront that could have a matching storefront on the unseen far side. I can’t make out any sort of marquee, though.

The Bonaventure Theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 edition of The American Motion Picture Directory, and in the 1912 Kansas City city directory.