Theatre

Joe Vogel on January 5, 2024 at 4:37 pm

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.