Cascade Theatre

Paul Becker built the multipurpose, two story building with opera house on the second floor and two retail spaces below. One of those businesses was the Opera House Pharmacy which served as the venue’s de facto concessionaire. Becker opened it on September 11, 1893 with live entertainment.

By World War I, most small town Opera Houses were moved from the second floor to the first floor - either as live event spaces or, more commonly, movie theatres. That’s what happened here when the Opera House was reconfigured with its theatre / new opera house on the main floor. The second floor became dance hall and basketball gymnasium. The project was announced in February of 1917. It took almost as much time to retrofit the space as to build it.

It reopened as the Cascade Theatre with a pricey $3 opening play of “The Toymakers Dream” on August 30, 1917. The theatre stayed live for a long period before working in weekday motion pictures in the 1920’s. During the roller skating craze, the second floor became a skating rink.

The Cascade Theatre went full time films but scuffled at the onset of the Depression unable to convert to sound and closing. It reopened on February 5, 1931 when the Cascade Theatre installed the DeForest Sound equipment to present sound films.

Economic conditions improved and the theatre did solid business. In the television age, however, the Cascade Theatre struggled. It closed and reopened with its last movie exhibition stretch beginning on May 9, 1957 with Clarence Bye and Gary Less. It closed before year’s end and was used sporadically for high school plays and live events. In January of 1967, just shy of its 75th Anniversary, the building was razed.

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