New Paola Theatre
109 W. Wea Street,
Paola,
KS
66071
109 W. Wea Street,
Paola,
KS
66071
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Empress Theatre
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The Empress Theatre was opened in late summer of 1915. In the April 14, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture World, Thomas M. Henneberry is mentioned as the manager of the Empress Theatre in Paola Kansas. In a 1926 advertisement for Reproduco organs the Empress Theatre, Paola, Kansas, is mentioned as being one of their satisfied customers. The Film Daily Yearboook 1926 lists the Empress Theatre with 300 seats. In September 1940 it was renamed New Poola Theatre with 600 seats.
It was still open in 1957.
Contributed by
Will Dunklin
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Fred C. Smith began showing moving pictures in Paola at the Mallory Opera House. That was going so well that Smith had a retail space converted for $10,000 creating the Empress Theatre. With tiled lobby, deluxe upholstered seating, and brass trim everywhere, the Empress opened in late summer 1915 exclusively for movies. The Mallory continued service as venue for live shows including traveling vaudeville shows by Smith. The Reverend O.B. Thurston took over the Empress on Sundays for sermons. Thursday was considered “big movie night” at the Empress.
Boxoffice, Oct. 19, 1940: “Paola - The new Paola was formally opened a few weeks ago.”
Typo in the entry, should be ‘New Paola’. This address is pretty consistent across the various Yearbooks, so either the dates are wrong, or this cannot have been the Empress. For one thing, the December 1916 map shows 109 as a gas office. The Paola and Empress are also listed concurrently from 1941 through at least 1945.
109 also does not appear nearly large enough for 600 seats. It’s rather narrow, and not very deep. It currently uses a 111 address. It was built sometime between 1897 and 1905. It appears to have been remodeled around 1960. The ground floor office space is either vacant or an apartment, and the upstairs appears to be residences.