Congress Theatre
4023 Olive Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63108
4023 Olive Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63108
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The August, 1911, issue of Motography had this item:
The September 3, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater to be built at Olive and Sarah Streets in St. Louis was being designed by architects Clymer & Drischler.Skouras Brothers ST. LOUIS AREA: •ST. LOUIS: Ambassador •Lyric Skydome •New Grand Central •Old Central •Olympic •Pageant •Shaw •West End Lyric
Elsewhere Greeks operated the United Amusements theatres in Montreal and Sankitos theatre in San Antonio. Kerasotes Theatres was Greek owned, had theatres in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis.
Do you know where I can find more info re the early greek movie/theatre owners in St Louis (like Pasmezoglou)?
As noted once before, the theatre was built in 1911 as the Olive and operated under the same management as the Delmar Theatre. In 1913 it was renamed the Marguerite Clark (the stage & screen actress who lived from 1883 to 1940). In 1915 the theatre became a full-time film house, owned by the Greek Consul in St. Louis A. M. E. Pasmezoglu who operated a number of film theatres in the community.
In 1925, theatre was leased to St. Louis Amusement who operated the theatre until 1945. In that year, theatre came under the wing of Joe Litvag, who operated until closure in July 1954.
Capacity of the house originally was 1096, later reduced to 898.
After closure as a theatre, the structure was used as a church and was eventually demolished.
There was a Msasonic type organization occupying the buiolding a few years ago. I was able to go in to see . Just a big hall now.
JamesGrebe
Located at the intersection of Olive & Sarah, the Congress was built in 1911 and opened as the OLIVE Theatre.
In 1913 theatre presented legitimate drama, was renamed the MARGUERITE CLARK.
In 1915 theatre became the CONGRESS.