Empress Theatre
Osawatomie,
KS
66064
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It was Thomas Henneberry who renamed the Majestic the Empress Theatre in 1917. In addition to the Empress Theatres at Osawatomie and at Paola, he also had an Empress Theatre at Eastland, Texas, which he sold in 1919.
A house called the Majestic Theatre was being mentioned The Osawatomie Graphic at least as early as 1910, but in 1917 it was renamed the Empress Theatre, and then a New Empress Theatre was built in 1921. I’ve found nothing about what then became of the old Majestic/Empress.
The 1927 FDY lists two theaters at Osawatomie: The 295-seat Empress and the 250-seat Peoples. In 1935, a house called the Zephyr Theatre opened in Osawatomie. Later that year the Zephyr was renamed the Kansan. There is always the possibility that the Majestic became the Peoples, and then maybe the Zephyr/Kansan as well, but I haven’t been able to establish a connection. For now I’d have to say that the Majestic/first Empress might have closed permanently in 1921.