Muscoda Theatre
108 W. Front Street,
Muscoda,
WI
53573
108 W. Front Street,
Muscoda,
WI
53573
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Additional Info
Architects: Ferdinand L. Kronenberg
Functions: Opera House
Previous Names: Paulick Opera House, Paulick Theatre, Davidson Theatre, Harper Theatre
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Frank Paulick believe that an opera house was necessary for a town so he got with architect Ferdinand L. Kronenberg of Madison, WI to design the Paulick Opera House. It appeared to have opened July 22, 1916. Like most small town opera house, the Paulick Opera House turned to showing films. On June 25, 1919, the venue became the Paulick Theatre showing movies full time.
A.L. Davidson bought the theatre changing its name to the Davison Theatre beginning February 20, 1924. The theatre was owned briefly by J.T. Harper in 1927, becoming the Harper Theatre, and then under new owners it became the Muscoda Theatre. The theatre converted to sound to stay viable. On April 18, 1937 while the theatre was screening the movie “Dodge City Trail” starring Charles Starrett, the theatre had a full house and a fire which began in the projection booth which gutted the venue. A new Muscoda Theatre was built ten years later (which has its own page on Cinema Treasures).
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
A 1927 Sanborn map shows the Opera House (with notation “Dance Hall & Movies”) on the north side of W. Front Street, just east of midblock. This is now the location of a parking lot adjacent to an Ace Hardware store. The hardware store runs through the block and uses the address 115 W. Nebraska Street, but Google maps street view gives the address 108 WI-133 Trunk (W. Front Street) to the parking lot where the theater once stood.
The January 26, 1929 issue of The Billboard had this announcement: “MUSCODA, Wis., Jan. 19. -Synchrotone has been installed at the Muscoda Theater and the first sound program was given Sunday night.”
Frank Paulick frequently submitted capsule movie reviews to trade journals, continuing well into 1923.
Although the Muscoda Theatre burned in 1937, it was still listed in the 1940 FDY, though with the notation that it was closed. The October 5 issue of Boxoffice that year said that “Muscoda, which is without a theatre, is now showing film every Saturday night in the school auditorium through the cooperation of local merchants.”
On December 21, 1940, Boxoffice said that the town’s merchants were actively seeking someone to build a theater in the town. Local residents going to other towns to see movies were also patronizing retail shops in those towns, much to the displeasure of Muscoda’s business community. They did finally get a new theater, but it took the better part of a decade.
One interesting bit of Muscoda history is that the May 6, 1916 issue of American Contractor, which carried a notice of Fred Paulick’s theater project also carried an adjacent notice of another theater project in Muscoda, a house 40x100 owned by a W. Davis. I’ve been unable to find any evidence that Mr. Davis’s project was completed, but if it was the competition must have been fierce once Mr. Paulick began running movies. I doubt that Mr. Davis’s smaller house would have survived for long.