Winfield Theatre
Winfield,
IA
52659
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Pratt's Theatre
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Ralph and Clyde Pratt (who operated theaters in neighboring Washington) along with their father opened the Pratt’s Theatre on September 12, 1911. It was renamed Winfield Theatre in 1932 and had 301-seats.
The seating capacity was later reduced to 175-seats and the Winfield Theatre closed on September 18, 1951 with James Whitmore in “Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone” along with a cartoon and newsreel following management retirement. The theater reopened by new management but this was short lived and in closed for a final time on July 5, 1952 with Joel McCrea in “Cattle Drive”. However it did reopen in 1954 and was still operating in 1955.
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Correction: The Winfield Theatre started as a 301-seat theater but the capacity downgraded to 173 by the end of its operation according to the Winfield Beacon.
The Winfield Theatre was later taken over by E.S. Tompkins who operated the theater after the retirement of the Pratt Brothers in late-August 1951. At the time, Mr. and Mrs. Dayle Allen owned the theater.
This didn’t last long, and the Winfield Theatre closed for the final time on July 5, 1952 with Joel McCrea in “Cattle Drive” along with a short entitled “Danger Under The Sea” and an unnamed cartoon.
Note: I accidentally added a duplicate page.
Another correction: It did not close on September 18, 1951. The theater continued operating until its July 5, 1952 closure.
There could have been an afterlife for this theater. The February 27, 1954 issue of Boxoffice had a brief article saying that E. J. Kramer of Burlington, Iowa, ad bought the theater equipment from the Allens and leased the Winfield Theatre building from the Pratt Brothers for three years and planned to reopen the house in March.
I haven’t found anything to confirm that Mr. Kramer, who had the backing of the local Chamber of Commerce, was able to fulfill his plans, though it seems to me his timing could hardly have been worse. wide screen equipment was about to become essential for theaters, and that would have been an enormous expense, yet had it not been made I don’t see how the house could have survived three year with a dwindling, then nonexistent, supply of new movies.
Apparently Mr. Kramer did manage to get the Winfield Theatre reopened in 1954, with the announcement appearing in the March 15 issue of Boxoffice. The house would be open three nights a week. Local businesses subscribed to each buy two adult tickets a week for one year, and additionally had given away 60 tickets for the first show under the new management. The house was still in in operation in 1955 when the April 16 Boxoffice reported that Kramer planned to continue a program of free movies on Wednesday nights sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. I haven’t found any later items about the Winfield.