Florence Theatre
118 E. Main Street,
Elk Point,
SD
57025
118 E. Main Street,
Elk Point,
SD
57025
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The Florence Theatre was opened by 1915. Identified from a late-1920’s advertisement for Reproduco Pipe Organs which lists the ‘Jackson’ Theatre in Elk Point, South Dakota as one of their satisfied customers. However, there is no Jackson Theatre listed in Film Daily Yearbooks of the period. There is the 350-seat Florence Theatre listed in 1926, which in 1929 had been joined by a 500 seat State Theatre on E. Main Street.
As there is a Jackson Street in Elk Point, it could be presumed that the name ‘Jackson’ Theatre could well be the Florence Theatre. The Florence Theatre is listed as (Closed) in the 1934 edition of Film Daily Yearbook.
Contributed by
William Dunklin, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Jackson St. runs North & South not East & West.
There’s far too much speculation here. There definitely was never anything on Jackson. It’s all residential except the water tower. All businesses were on Main, except for a few on Douglas, and some industrial stuff up by the railroad.
The Florence Theatre is one of three houses listed at Elk Point in the public building inspection section of the annual report of the Food & Drug Commissioner of South Dakota for the year ending June 30, 1915. The other two were the Opera House and a Lyric Theatre, the latter listed as closed. The Opera House and Florence were also listed in a 1916 business directory, but the Lyric was not. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory listed three houses at Elk Point: the Gem, the Lyric and the Yale. The Opera House was converted for movies in late 1915, according to items in issues of Moving Picture World in November and December that year. It’s possible that Florence was a new name for either the Gem or the Yale.
In 1915 the Florence was operated by a Mr. Charles Bovee, who was still in charge in 1930 when the February 17 issue of the Sioux City Journal reported that part of the floor of the lobby of the Florence Theatre in Elk Point had collapsed while a crowd was waiting for the second show to begin. Ten people were injured. This article also notes that the theater had been named for Bovee’s daughter Florence, who witnessed the event but was not injured.
Thanks for confirming the opera house. I’ll list that.