My photo link shows the 1909 Grand Opera House that became the Grand Theatre. Neither Wineman’s Opera House nor the Grand Opera House was located in the Masonic Hall. The Historical Society has mistakenly identified the building as the Grand Opera House because of the sign jutting from the corner of the building, but the sign merely advertises the Grand Opera House and its basement roller rink, which was probably down the block. Note that the original typed caption on the photo itself identifies the building only as Masonic Hall, not as the Grand Opera House.
I do now see one mistake in my previous comment. The Grand Opera House was on Fifth Street, not Fifth Avenue, and I believe I have identified its exact location. Part of the front wall with its base, face brick faux quoins, and a short length of stringcourse, is still standing, and can be seen in this Google Street View. The Opera House was on the south side of Fifth Street about midway between Third and Fourth Avenues.
An October 28, 1909, item in the Turtle Mountain Star said that the Devils Lake Opera House was scheduled to open on December 16. When the building was demolished in 1971, the main chandelier from the auditorium was salvaged and has since been installed in a building at Lake Region State College.
It turns out that there were two theaters called the Opera House in Devils Lake, and the one that became the Grand Theatre was this one, which was located on Fifth Avenue and built in 1909. It was demolished in 1971. The 1913-1914 Cahn Guide lists the Grand Opera House as a ground-floor theater with 625 seats in the orchestra, 335 in the balcony, and 90 in the boxes and loge. A history of Devils Lake prepared for the national Bicentennial in 1976 (9.9mb pdf here) says this:
“…the Grand Opera House holds sentimental memories among Devils Lake citizens comparable to those of New Yorkers for the Metropolitan. Its gala opening night, December 16, 1909, featured a New York stage show, ‘Honeymoon Trail’, with a cast of 60 players, which was followed by a grand ball attended by about 200 couples.”
The theater featured a ballroom in its basement, which was later used as a roller skating rink. The history also notes the eventual fate of the Grand Theatre:
“Plagued by financial problems during the depression years, the theatre closed, and the building was sold on September 19, 1946, to the American Legion Post for use as their club house. The last legal transaction was on March 11, 1971, when the building was sold to the Devils Lake parking authority, and the building was wrecked for parking facilities.”
I’ve been unable to discover the exact address of the Grand Theatre, but it was on Fifth Avenue within a block of Fourth Street.
The earlier opera house was originally called Wineman’s Opera House, and was a second-floor theater with but 500 seats. The building, but not the theater, was expanded in 1916, going from the original two-story structure at the corner of Fourth Street and Fourth Avenue to the longer three-story building that survives today as the Opera House Apartments. I’ve found no evidence that Wineman’s Opera House was ever used as a movie theater.
This article at Dakotafire says that the Krieger Theatre has closed permanently. The operators were unable to afford the conversion to digital projection.
The February, 1912, issue of Motography said: “The opera house at Devils Lake has changed hands and
will now be conducted as a motion picture and vaudeville house.”
An ad for Carl Boller & Bro. Architects, in the January 16, 1916 issue of The Wichita Daily Eagle boasted that the firm designed not only the new Palace Theatre but the Crawford and Princess Theatres as well.
Carl Boller & Bro., Architects, ran an ad in the January 16, 1916 issue of The Wichita Daily Eagle saying that the firm had designed the Princess and Crawford Theatres as well as the new Palace Theatre, which was opening the following day.
Thanks, Chris. It was a temporary name change, then, as the house had returned to its original name by the time the 1921 city directory was published.
The September 13, 1913, issue of The Topeka Daily Capital noted the opening of the Princess Theatre at this address:
“The Princess theater reopened, at the new location, 834 North Kansas avenue, yesterday evening. A special four reel program was given, with additional music. There was a capacity attendance at each performance.”
I haven’t yet discovered the address of the Princess Theatre mentioned in the 1912 newspaper item, but it must have been the same neighborhood as the item specified that it was in North Topeka..
Fargo History provides pages for the Bijou and for the Garrick. The Garrick page says that the expansion of the theater took place at the time it was renamed, in 1915. It also says that the theater was no longer listed in the 1932 city directory, having been replaced by Grant’s Department Store.
Here is another photo of the Garrick, probably from its last year as the eight-story Black Building up the block was completed in 1931.
Multiple sources, including the Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to, indicate that the plans for the 1925 rebuilding of the Grand Theatre were prepared by Boller Brothers. Not only was a new facade put on the building, but the interior was gutted and rebuilt, allowing an increase in seating capacity despite the removal of the original gallery.
This photo of the Novelty Theatre is dated September, 1926, which would be shortly after the remodeling by the Boller Brothers that year. The mid-1920s were a busy time for the Bollers in Topeka. Their new Jayhawk Theatre would open in August, 1926, and the Grand Theatre had been substantially rebuilt to their plans in 1925.
This item is from the March 29, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News concerns a theater being built at Corona, California, by J. J Cruz:
“Cruz Building at Corona, Cal.
“Construction has commenced on a new theatre on lower Main Street, Corona, Cal., next to the store of J. J. Cruz & sons, and will be conducted by them. Mr. Cruz states that his new playhouse will be ready by July 15, and that he will expend in the neighborhood of $12,000 for equipment. The building measures 120x25 with a stage for stock performances as part of the plans.”
This brief article about Clair Patee, owner of the Patee Theatre, appeared in the July 12, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News:
“Oldest Showman In U. S., Is Claim Of Clair Patee
“Topeka, Kas. — This may force the line to form to the right, but it is, nevertheless, the claim of Clair M. Patee, owner of the Patee theatre at Lawrence, that he is the oldest exhibitor in the United States. Not only that, but Patee asserts that claim has never been contested.
“‘Colonel’ Patee states he opened a picture theatre in Jersey City, N.J., in 1898, which he claims to be the first in the country. Later he opened the ‘Patee Nickel’ in Lawrence, Kas., in 1903. In 1904 he opened, on Delaware St., in Kansas City, the ‘Nickel Theatre,’ claimed to be the first picture house in Kansas City.
“Patee has never missed an MPTO convention — ‘since they have been having them,’ he adds. He has attended all of the twelve annual conclaves of the Kansas and Missouri unit. He personally published a pamphlet called ‘Facts,’ the sheets of which show publicity in early form. It was a four-page weekly, in which was a queer assemblage of reading matter, fashion notes, home hints, recipes, school news, and — carefully sandwiched in between — facts about the then new picture business.
“In those days, Patee says, the public did not look with a very friendly eye upon pictures. They were in the category of ‘fakes.’ The purpose of ‘Facts’ was to tactfully dispel this idea and to gain favor for the pictures.
“In Lawrence, his home, Patee has been an exhibitor since the ‘Patee Nickel’ was opened in 1903. His house now is called simply the ‘Patee.’ It is different from many houses in that it is on the English plan, with the choice, and highest-priced seats, in the balcony.”
The Princess Theatre is mentioned in the May 30, 1912, edition of The Topeka Daily Capital.
As many references to early theaters in Topeka that I’ve found in the trade journals, I have not yet found any mention of a Victorian Theatre. There were houses called the Aurora and the Olympic that converted to movies in 1908, there were theaters called the Majestic, the Isis, the Iris, the Empress, the Cozy, the Best, the Gem, the Earl, and the Hippodrome, but so far no Victorian.
The Sanford Theatre opened on September 13, 1926, according to the October 23 issue of Motion Picture News. The theater was in the Spanish Renaissance style, and was originally operated by Fabian Theatres in association with the Stanley Company.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that the Patee Theatre was built in 1903. However, this page from the Watkins Museum of History says that the house opened by Clair and Vivian Patee in 1903 was at 708 Massachusetts Street, and was originally called the Nickel Theatre.
It was in 1913 that they opened the Patee Theatre at 828 Massachusetts Street. The Patee Theatre was gutted by a fire in March, 1955, and the building demolished later that year. The location of the theater’s entrance is now the site of a pedestrian walkway to a parking lot. The original Nickel Theatre building is now a bookshop.
The page has a slide show with photos of both theaters, but they are all just front views.
This earlier comment by AlAlvarez says that the Stanley was showing movies as early as 1916. Its age, and the fact that it is the only theater listed for this stretch of 7th Avenue, makes it more likely that it was the theater in this item from The American Contractor of July 5, 1913:
“Moving Picture Theater (seating capacity 800): 2 sty. 60x90. $35,000. W. S. Seventh av., nr. 41st st., New York City. Archt. W. H. Hoffman, Empire bldg., Philadelphia, Pa. Const. Engr. Jas. P. Whiskerman, 30 E. 42d st., New York City. Brick. Bldrs. H. P. Wright & Co., 30 E. 42d st., New York City. Excavation finished. Plumbing let to Savoy Plumbing Co., 162 Prince st., New York City.”
W. H. Hoffman was, of course, the senior partner in the Philadelphia architectural firm of Hoffman & Henon, specialists in theater design.
This item is from the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor:
“Motion Picture Theater: 1 sty. 60 x110. $15,000. 404 S. Orange av. Archt. W. E. Lehman, 738 Broad st. Owner H. C. Schneider (builder), 514 S. 14th st., & Edw. A. Kirch (furniture), Market st. Lessee about to sign lease. Architect & owner receiving bids. Brick, buff Indiana limestone, slag roof, galv. iron skylights, cornice, struct. & orn. iron, N. C. pine & cement flooring, white wood trim, tiling, gas & electric fixtures.”
The De Luxe must have been one of the more modest theaters designed by William E. Lehman.
This item is from the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor:
“Picture Theater: 2 ¼ sty. 100x150. $30,000. Main st. & Fillmore av. Archt. H. P. Kehr, 503 Mutual Life bldg. Owner Buffalo Cement Co., 110 Franklin st. Up to roof. Architect desires bids on interior wood finish, electric work.”
I haven’t been able to find anything else about architect H. P. Kehr.
There is a possibility that the Royal Theatre was a house that had opened in 1918 as the Liberty Theatre. The September 21 issue of The Moving Picture World that year said that “[m]oving picture theatre congestion at Orange, Texas, has been relieved by the opening of the Strand and the Liberty theatres on Front near Sixth street in that city.” 510 W. Front Street would put the Royal near Sixth Street. The upstairs windows of the building in the ca.1948 photo CSWalczak linked to are of an old style typical of the 1910s but pretty much obsolete for commercial construction by 1940. However, the Liberty was supposed to have had about 1,100 seats, so if it was the same house as the Royal there was quite a discrepancy to account for.
This notice appeared in the September 7, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Herschel Thomas' Strand Theatre at
Orange, Texas, opened August 28 with Rex Beach’s ‘Heart of the Sunset.’ This theatre cost $70,000.”
A somewhat belated item in the September 21 issue of the same publication revealed that Orange also had theaters called the Liberty and the Princess, neither of which is currently listed (under those names, at least) at Cinema Treasures:
“Orange, Tex.— The Liberty and Strand theatres will open very shortly, with a seating capacity of between 1,100 and 1,200 each. The Princess theatre of this city will be located in the New Holland building with double its former seating capacity.”
The same issue of the magazine has another item saying both the Strand and the Liberty were already open:
“Moving picture theatre congestion at Orange, Texas, has been relieved by the opening of the Strand and the Liberty theatres on Front near Sixth street in that city. Before these new play houses opened crowds would stand in line for an hour waiting to get a chance to see a show. The influx of population owing to ship building activity caused these conditions.”
Another item mentions the Airdome Theatre in Orange. Judging from Google’s Street and Satellite views, Orange has almost completely disemboweled itself, so it’s unlikely that any of its old theaters have survived.
Ed: I’ve held off submitting the Wadsworth Theatre because I’ve been unable to find any evidence that it operated as a movie house at any time during its brief existence. However, while trying to find such evidence I came across an item in the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor that is probably about the Heights Theatre, which opened October 11, 1913:
“Store, Office & Moving Picture Bldg.: 2 sty. 102x150x100. $75,000. Broadway, 181st st. & Wadsworth av. Archts. Townsend, Steinle & Haskell, 1328 Broadway. Owner Robert E. Westcott estate, 33 Wall st. Bldrs. Fountain & Choate, 110 E. 23d st. Brick, stone. Work in progress. Plastering let to T. A. O'Rourke Co., 103 Park av.”
A couple of Townsend, Steinle & Haskell’s large apartment buildings made it into the AIA Guide to New York City, but the Heights didn’t.
My photo link shows the 1909 Grand Opera House that became the Grand Theatre. Neither Wineman’s Opera House nor the Grand Opera House was located in the Masonic Hall. The Historical Society has mistakenly identified the building as the Grand Opera House because of the sign jutting from the corner of the building, but the sign merely advertises the Grand Opera House and its basement roller rink, which was probably down the block. Note that the original typed caption on the photo itself identifies the building only as Masonic Hall, not as the Grand Opera House.
I do now see one mistake in my previous comment. The Grand Opera House was on Fifth Street, not Fifth Avenue, and I believe I have identified its exact location. Part of the front wall with its base, face brick faux quoins, and a short length of stringcourse, is still standing, and can be seen in this Google Street View. The Opera House was on the south side of Fifth Street about midway between Third and Fourth Avenues.
An October 28, 1909, item in the Turtle Mountain Star said that the Devils Lake Opera House was scheduled to open on December 16. When the building was demolished in 1971, the main chandelier from the auditorium was salvaged and has since been installed in a building at Lake Region State College.
It turns out that there were two theaters called the Opera House in Devils Lake, and the one that became the Grand Theatre was this one, which was located on Fifth Avenue and built in 1909. It was demolished in 1971. The 1913-1914 Cahn Guide lists the Grand Opera House as a ground-floor theater with 625 seats in the orchestra, 335 in the balcony, and 90 in the boxes and loge. A history of Devils Lake prepared for the national Bicentennial in 1976 (9.9mb pdf here) says this:
The theater featured a ballroom in its basement, which was later used as a roller skating rink. The history also notes the eventual fate of the Grand Theatre:I’ve been unable to discover the exact address of the Grand Theatre, but it was on Fifth Avenue within a block of Fourth Street.The earlier opera house was originally called Wineman’s Opera House, and was a second-floor theater with but 500 seats. The building, but not the theater, was expanded in 1916, going from the original two-story structure at the corner of Fourth Street and Fourth Avenue to the longer three-story building that survives today as the Opera House Apartments. I’ve found no evidence that Wineman’s Opera House was ever used as a movie theater.
This article at Dakotafire says that the Krieger Theatre has closed permanently. The operators were unable to afford the conversion to digital projection.
The February, 1912, issue of Motography said: “The opera house at Devils Lake has changed hands and will now be conducted as a motion picture and vaudeville house.”
An ad for Carl Boller & Bro. Architects, in the January 16, 1916 issue of The Wichita Daily Eagle boasted that the firm designed not only the new Palace Theatre but the Crawford and Princess Theatres as well.
Carl Boller & Bro., Architects, ran an ad in the January 16, 1916 issue of The Wichita Daily Eagle saying that the firm had designed the Princess and Crawford Theatres as well as the new Palace Theatre, which was opening the following day.
Thanks, Chris. It was a temporary name change, then, as the house had returned to its original name by the time the 1921 city directory was published.
The September 13, 1913, issue of The Topeka Daily Capital noted the opening of the Princess Theatre at this address:
I haven’t yet discovered the address of the Princess Theatre mentioned in the 1912 newspaper item, but it must have been the same neighborhood as the item specified that it was in North Topeka..Fargo History provides pages for the Bijou and for the Garrick. The Garrick page says that the expansion of the theater took place at the time it was renamed, in 1915. It also says that the theater was no longer listed in the 1932 city directory, having been replaced by Grant’s Department Store.
Here is another photo of the Garrick, probably from its last year as the eight-story Black Building up the block was completed in 1931.
Multiple sources, including the Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to, indicate that the plans for the 1925 rebuilding of the Grand Theatre were prepared by Boller Brothers. Not only was a new facade put on the building, but the interior was gutted and rebuilt, allowing an increase in seating capacity despite the removal of the original gallery.
This photo of the Novelty Theatre is dated September, 1926, which would be shortly after the remodeling by the Boller Brothers that year. The mid-1920s were a busy time for the Bollers in Topeka. Their new Jayhawk Theatre would open in August, 1926, and the Grand Theatre had been substantially rebuilt to their plans in 1925.
This item is from the March 29, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News concerns a theater being built at Corona, California, by J. J Cruz:
This brief article about Clair Patee, owner of the Patee Theatre, appeared in the July 12, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News:
The Princess Theatre is mentioned in the May 30, 1912, edition of The Topeka Daily Capital.
As many references to early theaters in Topeka that I’ve found in the trade journals, I have not yet found any mention of a Victorian Theatre. There were houses called the Aurora and the Olympic that converted to movies in 1908, there were theaters called the Majestic, the Isis, the Iris, the Empress, the Cozy, the Best, the Gem, the Earl, and the Hippodrome, but so far no Victorian.
The Sanford Theatre opened on September 13, 1926, according to the October 23 issue of Motion Picture News. The theater was in the Spanish Renaissance style, and was originally operated by Fabian Theatres in association with the Stanley Company.
Here is an additional photo showing the Patee Theatre around the time of its opening in 1913.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that the Patee Theatre was built in 1903. However, this page from the Watkins Museum of History says that the house opened by Clair and Vivian Patee in 1903 was at 708 Massachusetts Street, and was originally called the Nickel Theatre.
It was in 1913 that they opened the Patee Theatre at 828 Massachusetts Street. The Patee Theatre was gutted by a fire in March, 1955, and the building demolished later that year. The location of the theater’s entrance is now the site of a pedestrian walkway to a parking lot. The original Nickel Theatre building is now a bookshop.
The page has a slide show with photos of both theaters, but they are all just front views.
The Princess Theatre was listed at 834 N. Kansas Avenue in the 1921 Topeka City Directory.
The Royal Theatre at Park Rapids, Minnesota, was mentioned in the September 7, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World.
This earlier comment by AlAlvarez says that the Stanley was showing movies as early as 1916. Its age, and the fact that it is the only theater listed for this stretch of 7th Avenue, makes it more likely that it was the theater in this item from The American Contractor of July 5, 1913:
W. H. Hoffman was, of course, the senior partner in the Philadelphia architectural firm of Hoffman & Henon, specialists in theater design.They usually are, guarina, but for some reason on Wadsworth Avenue it’s back-asswards.
This item is from the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor:
The De Luxe must have been one of the more modest theaters designed by William E. Lehman.This item is from the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor:
I haven’t been able to find anything else about architect H. P. Kehr.There is a possibility that the Royal Theatre was a house that had opened in 1918 as the Liberty Theatre. The September 21 issue of The Moving Picture World that year said that “[m]oving picture theatre congestion at Orange, Texas, has been relieved by the opening of the Strand and the Liberty theatres on Front near Sixth street in that city.” 510 W. Front Street would put the Royal near Sixth Street. The upstairs windows of the building in the ca.1948 photo CSWalczak linked to are of an old style typical of the 1910s but pretty much obsolete for commercial construction by 1940. However, the Liberty was supposed to have had about 1,100 seats, so if it was the same house as the Royal there was quite a discrepancy to account for.
This notice appeared in the September 7, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World:
A somewhat belated item in the September 21 issue of the same publication revealed that Orange also had theaters called the Liberty and the Princess, neither of which is currently listed (under those names, at least) at Cinema Treasures:The same issue of the magazine has another item saying both the Strand and the Liberty were already open:Another item mentions the Airdome Theatre in Orange. Judging from Google’s Street and Satellite views, Orange has almost completely disemboweled itself, so it’s unlikely that any of its old theaters have survived.Ed: I’ve held off submitting the Wadsworth Theatre because I’ve been unable to find any evidence that it operated as a movie house at any time during its brief existence. However, while trying to find such evidence I came across an item in the July 5, 1913, issue of The American Contractor that is probably about the Heights Theatre, which opened October 11, 1913:
A couple of Townsend, Steinle & Haskell’s large apartment buildings made it into the AIA Guide to New York City, but the Heights didn’t.