Theatre
336 Main Street,
Rockwell City,
IA
50579
336 Main Street,
Rockwell City,
IA
50579
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This theatre appears on the 1915 Sanborn, in an old two story brick building from 1896. The only earlier map, from 1909, shows this as restaurant. This building would have been very small for a theatre, and likely did not last long.
This may have been the Magic Theatre, or that may have been the other theatre shown on this map. The building is a bit shabby, and is today occupied by a bar.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Whether this house was the Magic Theatre, which was being “greatly improved” according to the January, 1912 issue of Motography, or the Electric Theater, which was mentioned in the June, 1912 issue of the same publication, or some other house with an unknown name, it was closed by 1916. The April 15 issue of Moving Picture World that year said: “Rockwell City, Ia.-Manager Meholin will have no competition for his handsome new Empress theater. He bought the Magic theater and closed it.”
The Magic Theatre was listed with 200 seats in the 1912 edition of Polk’s Iowa State business directory, and was the only house listed for Rockwell City. I suppose someone might have squeezed 200 seats in to this small building, but the theater on 4th Street would have accommodated them more comfortably. If the great improvements being planned for the Magic in January 1912 included any even modest increase in capacity, that would surely have put this location right out of the running.