Ismo Theatre
125 W. Eighth Street,
Coffeyville,
KS
67337
125 W. Eighth Street,
Coffeyville,
KS
67337
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The New Columbia Theatre opened April 29, 1912 with films including Mildred Weston in “A Record Romance” and Lottie Briscoe in “A College Girl,” along with multiple vaudeville acts including a tight rope perf outside from the Columbia Building to the Pfiester Building. It was wired for sound to remain commercially viable.
In April of 1936, Moran & Isley’s Southwest Theatres Inc. took on the operation renaming it as the ISMO Theatre. Midwest Amusement took over the house from Southwest on March 5, 1939. They gave the venue a shocking streamline moderne makeover soon thereafter. Still listed as open in the trades in 1955, it is assumed it closed at the end of a 20-year lease in 1956 because, why not?
Fox Midwest Theatres took over the theater in May 1930.
Although dmt added a photo in 2016, he didn’t leave a comment. The timeline is wrong. This opened in 1912, in a large business block that must have been recently constructed, as it’s not on the 1908 map. It was originally the Columbia, and must have been remodeled and renamed in 1940. The building is disfigured by a repulsive ‘70s concrete awning, but is in pretty good shape. The theater space is a cafe.
A memory from Jon A Nelson:
“I can remember attending this theater across from The Tackett Movie Theater on 8th Street in the late 40’s. What I remember is that the rest rooms were down front under the screen. The Ismo Theater opened in 1940 and closed in 1950. It seated 466 and was ran by Fox Midwest Amusement Corporation from 1945 to 1950.”