State Theatre

The State Theatre was a Streamline Moderne style movie house that was placed in an existing retail location in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. The theatre basically fulfilled a 20-year lease from 1935 to 1954 and, if remembered at all, will only likely be remembered for its beginning and its demise. Architectural drawings of a New State Theatre was also revealed that would have doubled the size of the venue in a shiny new building (see photos tab); however, those plans were scrapped as movie going in that late-1940’s and 1950’s central business districts all around the country nosedived.

The 708-712 Minnesota Avenue location was built in 1908 and was known for being home to a retail location of Wallins' Grocery Company during World War I and into the 1920’s before housing other retail stores. It was situated within a busy hub of activity as the long-standing Kansas City main post office was on the block and it was home to a Montgomery Ward’s retail store. Additionally, a busy streetcar line terminated at the corner making travel to theatre a snap and visibility high. Stanley W. Schwartz and W.D. Fulton felt that Depression-era downtown Kansas City needed a new type of theatre on the Kansas side of the Mississippi - a discount grind house operating from morning until late night.

And that’s just what Fulton created with their State Theatre which began from its outset with morning shows, purportedly the first venue to offer morning movies in KC, KS. It opened at 10:30 a.m. and grinded the day’s show / film prints all the way until 11:30 p.m. continuously. Opening day, September 6, 1935 was mobbed with patrons with all 425 seats taken at the launch. It was a good start for the Schwartz and Fulton’s eighth theatre in the metro area. (Note: Trade press reports of 500 seats in the venue are in error.)

Patrons and passers-by agreed that the State Theatre had some degree of levity with its attractor going for unique phrasing of bookings including, “Parole. It’s a Gift" and “Mae West Goin’ to Town with Select Shorts” among them. But, sadly, as it reached the 1950’s, the State Theatre came out on the wrong side of history. Three African-American students from, then, Sumner High School were denied permission to purchase tickets at the State Theatre’s box office in March of 1950. Knowing that it was a misdemeanor to not admit them, the three students went next door to Montgomery Ward’s to use their public pay phone and try to get results. The theatre did not allow the students in that day and owner W.D. Fulton blamed the city’s ordinance permitting African-Americans into the theatre as the chief reason that he had closed one theatre and would close the State Theatre less than five years later.

The State Theatre closed in 1954 as the 20-year leasing period was expiring. Retailer W.T. Grant purchased the site for a new store and the State Theatre building was razed in 1955. Viewing photographs of the demolition showed a disregard for safety with people injured and cars damaged when chunks of the former State toppled on the sidewalk and street on two separate occasions (see photos tab).

So while the State Theatre may have started up and became known for its innovative discount a.m. to night owl grind policy, it left a bad taste with its later-term policies right through to its demolition. The next building housing Grant’s opened on October 13, 1955 but closed along with the chain two decades later. However, the structure was still standing and quite identifiable in the 2020’s though now known as Pylon Plaza. It had switched from retail to office space.

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