Majestic Theater

The Hebron Opera House launched with a formal, free show on February 9, 1883. Programming was handled by Savage, Werner and Drum. The first night featured addresses, an operetta and tableau vivants. Vitascope motion pictures were first presented at the Opera House on April 27, 1898. In 1908, the town would get a full time movie theater with the Elite Theater which was supplemented with an Airdome for the warm summer months.

Motion pictures would also become the predominant form of entertainment in the late-1910’s at the Opera House. Manager S.H. Blair decided to remodel the venue renaming it as the Majestic Theater relaunching with full-time movies on November 5, 1921 with Charlie Chaplin in “The Kid”.

“Amiable” Abe H. Record who had run the local theater in nearby by Deshler took over the Majestic Theater. Record would be responsible for modernizing the venue in the late-1920’s. Record brought in talkies to Hebron beginning with “The Donovan Affair” on July 15, 1929. More big news occurred just months later when Leo, the MGM Lion, made a personal appearance at the theater on October 23, 1929.

In 1951, Harold W. Struve purchased the Majestic Theater. Just two years later, the former Opera House turned Majestic Theatre was destroyed by a tornado on May 9, 1953 along with many buildings in the town. Struve constructed the Oregon Trail Drive-In Theatre in Hebron which opened two months later so that local residents didn’t have to drive to the Ritz Theatre in Deshler to see movies. Struve had only purchased the Majestic Theater two years prior.

The new Majestic Theatre was built and opened eight months to the day of the tornado on January 9, 1954 with Audie Murphy in “Tumbleweed” and has its own Cinema Treasure page. The theatre was still operating in the 2020’s. Essentially, this establishment has been operating - albeit in two different buildings - for around 140 years uninterrupted other than three refreshes and the tornado that destroyed the first building. An impressive achievement for a town of just over 1,500 residents.

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