Kansas Theatre
117-119 S. Main Street,
Pratt,
KS
67124
117-119 S. Main Street,
Pratt,
KS
67124
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This theatre was open by 1914. It was originally called the Elite Theatre (the 2nd Elite Theatre in Pratt), and was housed in a building constructed sometime after 1911, when this site was vacant. The theatre was a wide one story brick structure with a rather shallow auditorium. There was a small balcony.
The Elite Theatre was still operating in 1921. By 1926, this was known as the Kansas Theatre. The capacity was reduced to 500 at some point. This theatre operated at least through 1935. It may have been damaged in a fire in 1939, before being replaced by a theatre of the same name and capacity two blocks south. The 1950 map shows this structure as a furniture store.
The building today has an ugly shingle awning, and is a rent to own furniture and appliance business.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
This house was still called the Elite in 1921, when the April 2 issue of Exhibitors Herald said this: “PRATT, KAN. — J. C. Kelley of Osawatomie has purchased the Elite theatre from A. E. Dickhut for $10,000.”
This was the second location of Pratt’s Elite Theatre, owned by C. F. Bays. The first was at 216 S. Main Street, where it began operating in the former location of the Phoenix Theatre sometime in 1911. I haven’t been able to pin down exactly when it moved to this location at 117-119 S. Main Street, but it was surely by 1914, when the Elite was listed in Gus Hill’s guide with 700 seats, a capacity much too large for the converted storefront at 216 Main.