State Theatre
108 E. Water Street,
Austin,
MN
55912
108 E. Water Street,
Austin,
MN
55912
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Opened or reopened as State on March 6th, 1924 and closed in 1962. It may have open as the Lyric on February 4th, 1912.
An Eagle Theatre with 600 seats is listed in the 1928 FDY. This was its first appearance. A 600-seat Lyric Theatre listed in the 1927 FDY is no longer listed in 1928. According to a 1966 article in the Austin Daily Herald the Lyric became the State, but checking the FDYs from the period, I find both the Lyric and the State listed in both the 1926 and the 1927 editions. I’ve found the State mentioned in Universal Weekly as early as April 5, 1924, so the Lyric probably didn’t become the State. More likely it became the Eagle in 1927 or very early 1928. The Lyric was one of at least six movie houses operating in Austin in 1914.
The much lower seating capacity listed in FDY in 1940 (and 1938) could have been the result of the house closing a balcony, but given that the manager was claiming 500 seats in 1940, I’m inclined to attribute the lower number to FDY’s notorious inaccuracy when it comes to seating capacities.
The Eagle is last listed in the 1942 FDY, with 250 seats. A 250-seat house called the Rex first appears in the 1943 edition, and I suspect a name change. But then the 233-seat Eagle reappears in the 1949 FDY and there is no Rex listed, so it looks like the name might have been changed back.