Broadway Theatre

Joe Vogel on December 11, 2024 at 6:55 pm

Here is an item from the October 12, 1912 issue of The Billboard noting the opening of the new Broadway Theatre in Muskogee on October 6: “Muskogee, Okla., Oct. 11 (Special to The Billboard).—The new Broadway Theatre was opened on October 6, with five vaudeville acts from the Interstate Amusement time. A crowded and enthusiastic audience was present. Fred E, Turner is the owner and R. B, Stephens, the sole proprietor. The new house is located in the heart of the shopping district and is elaborately finished, with a capacity of 1008

“Muskogee has needed a first-class vaudeville theatre for some time as Oklahoma City is the only other place in the state that plays first class circuits and the productions furnished by the Interstate Company will insure a prosperous and successful career”

Joe Vogel on September 10, 2018 at 9:58 pm

The July 4, 1912 issue of The Tradesman had this item dateline Muskogee:

“In the very near future the new Broadway theater, being built by the Homestead Ammusement Company, will be thrown open to the public, and this building will give to the city, with our present equipment — the best play house facilities of any city of its size in the country.”

Joe Vogel on July 17, 2011 at 5:34 am

Street View was updated too far east. The address 211 is displayed on the lower building that is just past the end of the building with the concrete canopy over the sidewalk.

An article on Muskogee’s theaters in the summer, 2000, edition of 3 Rivers Historian, published by the Three Rivers Museum, says that the Broadway Theatre was built in 1912 by Fred Turner, who hired George Procter to act as manager and Hugh Marsh to operate the projector. Procter and Marsh took a lease on the theater in 1923.

The article doesn’t mention the Broadway ever having been called the Muskogee Opera House, in addition to saying that it was built in 1912. Neither can I find any references to the Muskogee Opera House on the Internet, other than those at Cinema Treasures. Perhaps the 1904 Opera House project was only a proposal that was never carried out.

Google Documents Quick View of the issue with the article.

seymourcox on February 6, 2011 at 5:08 pm

Courtesy of ken mc, here is a 1921 newpaper ad for the Yale Theatre -
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raybradley on August 26, 2006 at 4:31 pm

Shown on this web page is a 1904 architectural drawing for Muskogee Opera House (AKA-Broadway Theatre). During the construction faze the hotel portion had been redesigned into Hunt’s Department Store,
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The school sketch opened as Washington Grammar School and burned to the ground in early 1950.