Capitol Theatre
2225 Central Avenue,
Dubuque,
IA
52001
2225 Central Avenue,
Dubuque,
IA
52001
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Family Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The 330-seat Capitol Theatre opened December 13, 1925, with John Ford’s “The Iron Horse”. Films were provided by Paramount, Fox, Metro, Goldwyn and First National with music by a Welte-Mignon piano, purchased from H. Gatena, Dubuque’s oldest music house.
Previously called the Family Theatre, which opened in September 1913, owner James Diener retained contractor C.W. Klein, who sublet the work and hardware to all local companies.
The Dubuque Times Herald called it “by far the most beautiful and most finely appointed small movie house in the middle west”.
On November 14, 1953, a tour bus from New York City carrying 14 drama students ran a red light, jumped the curb and crashed into the lobby, causing thousands in damages. Fortunately, there were no injuries but the city building inspector condemned the building. The next day photographs of the accident were published in the Telegraph Herald.
Always a second-run house, the weekend crowd missed seeing Donald O’Connor in “Francis Covers The Big Town” and Rock Hudson in “The Lawless Breed” but the Capitol Theatre never reopened again.
There was no shortage of theatres in Dubuque at the time. The others were the Avon, Grand, RKO-Orpheum, State, Strand and Varsity.
In 1954 it was reported the former Capitol Theatre was remodeled into Hartig’s Drug Store, where in the 1970’s a modern Hartig’s was built.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The original building seems to have existed before 1884. It had been expanded somewhat by 1891, and was a drug store prior to conversion. The auditorium appears to have been in a long single story addition to the rear. I’ve added a rather messy view from what appears to be a 1950 revision to the 1909 map. No idea why there is such a long gap in coverage.
Note that the 1950 map shows a different address. Dubuque went through an absurd amount of street renaming/renumbering on the north side. The early address would have been 2181 Couler Ave, which became Central. It was originally at the corner with W Eagle Point Ave, which became 22nd St. Further out, 23rd (1891) became 27th (1909), and then 26th (1950). It makes it incredibly difficult to track buildings on the maps.