A photo of Frederick, Oklahoma’s Grand Avenue in the 1960s shows the Montgomery Ward catalog store, which occupied the Oklahoma Theatre’s old building, in the structure that is still standing today at 115 W. Grand Avenue. The building now houses an insurance company’s office.
This notice about the proposed Cook Theatre appeared in Moving Picture World for August 16, 1919: “A new theatre, to be known as the Cook, will be erected in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. It will be of brick with stone and terra cotta trimmings. The seating will accommodate 1,500 persons.”
As the opening ad calls the house the Cook Theatre and the name Cook Theatre is on the terra cotta parapet of the building, I suspect that the aka Cook Opera House was just some sort of rumor that became established over the years. There was a Cook (or Cook’s) Opera House in Rochester, New York, but I’ve found no historic references to this house in Okmulgee as anything other than the Cook Theatre, and then the Orpheum. The aka on this page should consequently be changed to match those known facts.
The buildings at 219 W. 6th Street in Google street view are not the ones in the vintage photo of the Rex, and the Rex building is supposed to have burned down anyway. 219 houses a restaurant called Kirby’s Café. I’m sure we have the wrong address for the theater. The July, 1920 Sanborn map shows a retail shop at 219 W. 6th, though our history suggests that the house remained in operation into the early 1940s.
The 1920 Sanborn does show a theater on this block, but it was at 207-209 W. 6th. The theater on the map is not configured like the Rex in the photo (it has a center entrance flanked by a small office on one side and a cigar store on the other) but it could have been remodeled at some point. The 1926 FDY lists the Cozy with 450 seats. The theater at 207-209 in 1920 was big enough to have accommodated that many seats, but the building at 219 definitely wasn’t.
The Sanborn map of Okmulgee dated July, 1920, shows a lot on North Grand between 5th and 6th Streets with the address 108 and the address (506) in parentheses. I believe the parenthetic address is old, and the modern address is 108 N. Grand. The numbers apparently had been changed fairly recently as of 1920. In any case, the former 506 no longer held a theater, but a variety store.
Here is an item about the proposed Plaza Theatre from Moving Picture World of November 6, 1915: “SIOUX CITY GETS A PLAZA THEATER.
“The Plaza Theater Company, of Waterloo, Iowa, has taken a ten-year lease on a site in Pierce street, Sioux City, Iowa, upon which it will build a moving picture theater with a seating capacity of 1,200. The exterior dimensions of the new theater are to be 50 by 150 feet. It is estimated that $40,000 will be expended, and the name of the structure
will be the Plaza. The entrance will be composed of a half dozen arched doorways, built of terra cotta. The front of the building will be of enameled brick. There will be a large lobby, and all the conveniences of the modern motion picture theater will be installed. A big pipe
organ will be used. Work will be begun in a few months, and the theater is expected to be opened by March of next year. J. E. Bryant, assisted by St. Elmo Bateman, will be in charge of the projected Plaza.”
Mentions of Salem are few in the trade journals, and the earliest mention of the Regale Theater I’ve found is in the July 4, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World. It is a capsule movie review from the manager of the house, Ed Mahan.
The November 23, 1955 Motion Picture Exhibitor said that “N. A. and L. E. Jorgensen’s Regale, Salem, S. D., celebrated its 25th anniversary.” This was apparently only the anniversary of the Jorgensens ownership, and Leonard Jorgensen’s 1999 obituary in the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader said that in 1930 he “…moved to Salem, where he owned and operated the Regale Theater and Bowling Alley until the early 1970’s.” Presumably, the bowling alley was the one that had been in the basement by 1917 and was probably part of the original construction in 1915.
Lee Memorial Town Hall was built in 1873-1874 and dedicated on March 30, 1874, as a memorial to 38 local citizens who died in the Civil War. It was designed in the French Second Empire style by architect Charles T. Rathbun. The building’s modern fame outside of Lee is largely the result of the police court it houses (among other municipal offices) having been the site of young Arlo Guthrie’s 1965 trial for littering, a tale recounted in his comic talking blues recording from 1967, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” (SPOILER ALERT: He was found guilty and had to pay a fifty dollar fine and pick up the garbage.)
The first listing of the State in the FDY is in the 1932 edition. It had 450 seats. The last listing of the 300-seat Ruby was 1931.
Madison also had a house called the Princess, around 1915. The July 3 issue of Moving Picture World that year said" “MADISON, S. D. Cox & Malvey, who conduct the Princess theatre, have purchased the Ruby theatre.”
A page headed “Changes in Publix Theatre Holdings” in the July 1, 1933 Motion Picture Herald includes a list reading:
“Madison Theatre Co. (Partnership Operation)
"Madison, S. D.
"Lyric State”
There is a 1928 Sanborn map of Seneca, but unfortunately it’s not available online. A 1914 map is, and shows “Moving pictures” in a small wooden building on the site that would later be occupied by the Grand/Holiday Theatre. Comparing the photos of the Colonial and the Holiday building they appear to be about the same size and the neighboring buildings are configured the same. The differences between the two buildings could be explained by a remodeling job. I think we should consider the possibility that the Colonial and Grand were the same house, despite the continued listing of the Colonial in the FDY after the Grand opened. The FDY was not always kept up-to-date.
The 1914 theater on the site was probably the one listed in the AMPD that year as the Electric Theatre. It’s frame building was quite small, but still might have been incorporated into an expanded masonry structure on the same lot.
Seneca’s Grand Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1951, necessitating complete reconstruction. The January 26, 1952 issue of Boxoffice reported that the rebuilt house was slated to open in about ninety days. The December 29, 1951 Boxoffice item about the fire said that the newly-remodeled house had suffered a loss of about $50,000.
According to an item in the February 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice, the new Centre Theatre, then under construction, was being built for Mr. and Mrs. William G. Cooke, who had formerly owned and operated the Tower Theatre. The Tower, the item said, had been converted for use as an automobile agency, so in the nd it reverted to its original use.
The British spelling Centre was used for this house in the article about it that appeared in the February 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice. The $200,000, 750-seat house was being built for Mr. and Mrs. William G. Cooke, formerly owners and operators of the Tower Theatre, which had been converted for use by an automobile agency. The Centre was designed by Reno architect Milferd Wheeler.
An item saying that frigid weather had delayed construction on the twin drive-ins being built by Esquire Theatres of America at Menands, New York, appeared in The February 6, 1966 issue of Boxoffice. Construction was slated to resume in May. The project was to include a small conventional theater on the same site, but I haven’t been able to discover if this was actually built or not.
The April 27, 1967 issue of The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA., says that the Union Square Theatre in Pittsfield and the Lee Theatre in Lee had been bought by the Esquire Theatres chain of Boston, and the Union Square would be renamed the Paris Cinema and the Lee would be renamed the Tanglewood Cinema. Both houses would be renovated.
Motion Picture Herald of October 13, 1956, said: “Confidence in the expanding future of drive-ins was expressed by Sylvan Leff via
the start of construction on an 800-car drive-in at Pittsfield, Mass. He already operates the Black River drive-in, near Watertown; the Town in Watertown; Highland and the Rialto in Utica—and he also sells independent product.”
The Didsbury Theatre was listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as an upstairs house with 1,050 seats, 500 on the main floor, 300 in the balcony and 250 in the gallery. The caption of a photo in Montgomery, New York, by Robert L. Williams refers to “…the Didsbury Theater, which dated to 1903….”
A William B. Didsbury was still operating the house as late as 1965, when the February 15 issue of Boxoffice published a letter from him in which he asked for advice from anyone who knew how to rid the theater of a bat who had taken up residence about a year earlier. The creature only appeared during shows, and all efforts to eliminate it had failed.
By 1968, Mr. Didsbury was gone. A Gus Kreykenbohm noted in the October 7 issue of Boxoffice that he had taken over operation of the old Didsbury Theatre in June. He had changed the name of the house to Viking Theatre. A June 5, 2025 article in the Hudson Valley Times notes the destruction of the building by fire in 1974, but does not mention the name change to Viking Theatre. It does, however, provide the useful information that projection equipment had first been installed at the Didsbury in 1907, and the reconstruction of the house as a ground floor theater had taken place in 1918. It also confirms 1903 as the original year of construction.
The April 27, 1967 issue of The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA., says that the Union Square Theatre in Pittsfield and the Lee Theatre in Lee had been bought by the Esquire Theatres chain of Boston, and the Union Square would be renamed the Paris Cinema and the Lee would be renamed the Tanglewood Cinema. Both houses would be renovated. The July 24 issue of Boxoffice that year said that Esquire was now operating the Tanglewood as the only cinema in Lee. The chain’s improvements to the house included a new marquee, repositioned box office, a new concession stand and re-carpeting. I’ve been unable to discover how long the house operated under its new name.
The description’s opening year of 1931 for the Roxy is mistaken. The Boxoffice item about the Roxy’s opening cited in my first comment is from 1941. The Arcadia was still listed in the FDY that year, though listed as closed. The date May 10 is probably correct though.
I wonder if this item from the August 9, 1913 issue of Motogrpahy was about the Fad Theatre? “C. C. Frie, formerly of Ida Grove, has sold out his moving picture show at Eldora and has gone to Brookings, S. D., to locate. He is erecting a new building for a show at Brookings and will have a fine little theater.”
The Camas Opera House is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but was mentioned in the local paper at least as early as December 19, 1908. A 1922 Sanborn map of Camas shows the Opera House at what was then 305 Clarke Street, and today would be 305 NE Adams Street. The site is now a parking lot for the Fort James Paper Company’s mill. The house might have undergone expansion around 1913, as the 1912-1913 Cahn guide lists it with 300 seats, and the 1914 Gus Hill guide lists it with 600.
The Grand Theatre was listed at Camas, Washington in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The only other theater listed was the Camas Opera House. No details were provided for either venue. I’ve been unable to find any mentions of the Grand in theater industry trade journals.
A 1922 Sanborn map shows “Motion Pictures” in a good-sized building at 225-227 4th St. (now NE 4th Ave.) adjacent to the Grand Central Hotel. The building on the site now, housing Camas Vision Centre, may be the original structure, but I’m not positive. The theater building was wooden, but the current structure has at least a façade made of brick, which could have been added to the wooden building. The only other movie theater on the 1922 map is the Opera House, so 225-227 had to have been the Grand.
Comparison of the historic photo of the Broadway Theatre and current Google street view reveals that the theater entrance was at 360 S. Broadway Street, which is currently used as a co-working office space called Estacada Powerhouse. Views at Historic Aerials show that a building behind the existing structure did vanish sometime between 1994 and 2000. That must have been the auditorium.
There is no Ellensburg Avenue in Estacada. The Apple map is defaulting to Broadway and Third Avenue. Unless the Liberty had an earlier name, it wasn’t the town’s first movie house. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at Estacada: the Family Theatre on Broadway and the Star Theatre on Main Street.
The September 7, 1918 Motion Picture News said that “A. E. SPARKS plans leasing the Family theatre in Estacada, Ore., and having it reopened.”
The only mention of the Liberty I’ve found in the trade journals is from the May 9, 1925 issue of Universal Weekly in an article about the promotion of a Hoot Gibson movie at the house. The manager of the Liberty at that time had the surname Feyerabend.
A photo of Frederick, Oklahoma’s Grand Avenue in the 1960s shows the Montgomery Ward catalog store, which occupied the Oklahoma Theatre’s old building, in the structure that is still standing today at 115 W. Grand Avenue. The building now houses an insurance company’s office.
This notice about the proposed Cook Theatre appeared in Moving Picture World for August 16, 1919: “A new theatre, to be known as the Cook, will be erected in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. It will be of brick with stone and terra cotta trimmings. The seating will accommodate 1,500 persons.”
As the opening ad calls the house the Cook Theatre and the name Cook Theatre is on the terra cotta parapet of the building, I suspect that the aka Cook Opera House was just some sort of rumor that became established over the years. There was a Cook (or Cook’s) Opera House in Rochester, New York, but I’ve found no historic references to this house in Okmulgee as anything other than the Cook Theatre, and then the Orpheum. The aka on this page should consequently be changed to match those known facts.
The buildings at 219 W. 6th Street in Google street view are not the ones in the vintage photo of the Rex, and the Rex building is supposed to have burned down anyway. 219 houses a restaurant called Kirby’s Café. I’m sure we have the wrong address for the theater. The July, 1920 Sanborn map shows a retail shop at 219 W. 6th, though our history suggests that the house remained in operation into the early 1940s.
The 1920 Sanborn does show a theater on this block, but it was at 207-209 W. 6th. The theater on the map is not configured like the Rex in the photo (it has a center entrance flanked by a small office on one side and a cigar store on the other) but it could have been remodeled at some point. The 1926 FDY lists the Cozy with 450 seats. The theater at 207-209 in 1920 was big enough to have accommodated that many seats, but the building at 219 definitely wasn’t.
The Sanborn map of Okmulgee dated July, 1920, shows a lot on North Grand between 5th and 6th Streets with the address 108 and the address (506) in parentheses. I believe the parenthetic address is old, and the modern address is 108 N. Grand. The numbers apparently had been changed fairly recently as of 1920. In any case, the former 506 no longer held a theater, but a variety store.
This house had closed by July, 1920, when the Sanborn map showed oil well supplies being sold at this address.
This address was still a vacant lot on the Sanborn map dated July, 1920.
Here is an item about the proposed Plaza Theatre from Moving Picture World of November 6, 1915: “SIOUX CITY GETS A PLAZA THEATER.
“The Plaza Theater Company, of Waterloo, Iowa, has taken a ten-year lease on a site in Pierce street, Sioux City, Iowa, upon which it will build a moving picture theater with a seating capacity of 1,200. The exterior dimensions of the new theater are to be 50 by 150 feet. It is estimated that $40,000 will be expended, and the name of the structure will be the Plaza. The entrance will be composed of a half dozen arched doorways, built of terra cotta. The front of the building will be of enameled brick. There will be a large lobby, and all the conveniences of the modern motion picture theater will be installed. A big pipe organ will be used. Work will be begun in a few months, and the theater is expected to be opened by March of next year. J. E. Bryant, assisted by St. Elmo Bateman, will be in charge of the projected Plaza.”
Mentions of Salem are few in the trade journals, and the earliest mention of the Regale Theater I’ve found is in the July 4, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World. It is a capsule movie review from the manager of the house, Ed Mahan.
The November 23, 1955 Motion Picture Exhibitor said that “N. A. and L. E. Jorgensen’s Regale, Salem, S. D., celebrated its 25th anniversary.” This was apparently only the anniversary of the Jorgensens ownership, and Leonard Jorgensen’s 1999 obituary in the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader said that in 1930 he “…moved to Salem, where he owned and operated the Regale Theater and Bowling Alley until the early 1970’s.” Presumably, the bowling alley was the one that had been in the basement by 1917 and was probably part of the original construction in 1915.
Lee Memorial Town Hall was built in 1873-1874 and dedicated on March 30, 1874, as a memorial to 38 local citizens who died in the Civil War. It was designed in the French Second Empire style by architect Charles T. Rathbun. The building’s modern fame outside of Lee is largely the result of the police court it houses (among other municipal offices) having been the site of young Arlo Guthrie’s 1965 trial for littering, a tale recounted in his comic talking blues recording from 1967, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” (SPOILER ALERT: He was found guilty and had to pay a fifty dollar fine and pick up the garbage.)
The first listing of the State in the FDY is in the 1932 edition. It had 450 seats. The last listing of the 300-seat Ruby was 1931.
Madison also had a house called the Princess, around 1915. The July 3 issue of Moving Picture World that year said" “MADISON, S. D. Cox & Malvey, who conduct the Princess theatre, have purchased the Ruby theatre.”
A page headed “Changes in Publix Theatre Holdings” in the July 1, 1933 Motion Picture Herald includes a list reading: “Madison Theatre Co. (Partnership Operation) "Madison, S. D. "Lyric State”
There is a 1928 Sanborn map of Seneca, but unfortunately it’s not available online. A 1914 map is, and shows “Moving pictures” in a small wooden building on the site that would later be occupied by the Grand/Holiday Theatre. Comparing the photos of the Colonial and the Holiday building they appear to be about the same size and the neighboring buildings are configured the same. The differences between the two buildings could be explained by a remodeling job. I think we should consider the possibility that the Colonial and Grand were the same house, despite the continued listing of the Colonial in the FDY after the Grand opened. The FDY was not always kept up-to-date.
The 1914 theater on the site was probably the one listed in the AMPD that year as the Electric Theatre. It’s frame building was quite small, but still might have been incorporated into an expanded masonry structure on the same lot.
Seneca’s Grand Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1951, necessitating complete reconstruction. The January 26, 1952 issue of Boxoffice reported that the rebuilt house was slated to open in about ninety days. The December 29, 1951 Boxoffice item about the fire said that the newly-remodeled house had suffered a loss of about $50,000.
According to an item in the February 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice, the new Centre Theatre, then under construction, was being built for Mr. and Mrs. William G. Cooke, who had formerly owned and operated the Tower Theatre. The Tower, the item said, had been converted for use as an automobile agency, so in the nd it reverted to its original use.
The British spelling Centre was used for this house in the article about it that appeared in the February 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice. The $200,000, 750-seat house was being built for Mr. and Mrs. William G. Cooke, formerly owners and operators of the Tower Theatre, which had been converted for use by an automobile agency. The Centre was designed by Reno architect Milferd Wheeler.
An item saying that frigid weather had delayed construction on the twin drive-ins being built by Esquire Theatres of America at Menands, New York, appeared in The February 6, 1966 issue of Boxoffice. Construction was slated to resume in May. The project was to include a small conventional theater on the same site, but I haven’t been able to discover if this was actually built or not.
The April 27, 1967 issue of The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA., says that the Union Square Theatre in Pittsfield and the Lee Theatre in Lee had been bought by the Esquire Theatres chain of Boston, and the Union Square would be renamed the Paris Cinema and the Lee would be renamed the Tanglewood Cinema. Both houses would be renovated.
Motion Picture Herald of October 13, 1956, said: “Confidence in the expanding future of drive-ins was expressed by Sylvan Leff via the start of construction on an 800-car drive-in at Pittsfield, Mass. He already operates the Black River drive-in, near Watertown; the Town in Watertown; Highland and the Rialto in Utica—and he also sells independent product.”
The Didsbury Theatre was listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as an upstairs house with 1,050 seats, 500 on the main floor, 300 in the balcony and 250 in the gallery. The caption of a photo in Montgomery, New York, by Robert L. Williams refers to “…the Didsbury Theater, which dated to 1903….”
A William B. Didsbury was still operating the house as late as 1965, when the February 15 issue of Boxoffice published a letter from him in which he asked for advice from anyone who knew how to rid the theater of a bat who had taken up residence about a year earlier. The creature only appeared during shows, and all efforts to eliminate it had failed.
By 1968, Mr. Didsbury was gone. A Gus Kreykenbohm noted in the October 7 issue of Boxoffice that he had taken over operation of the old Didsbury Theatre in June. He had changed the name of the house to Viking Theatre. A June 5, 2025 article in the Hudson Valley Times notes the destruction of the building by fire in 1974, but does not mention the name change to Viking Theatre. It does, however, provide the useful information that projection equipment had first been installed at the Didsbury in 1907, and the reconstruction of the house as a ground floor theater had taken place in 1918. It also confirms 1903 as the original year of construction.
The April 27, 1967 issue of The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA., says that the Union Square Theatre in Pittsfield and the Lee Theatre in Lee had been bought by the Esquire Theatres chain of Boston, and the Union Square would be renamed the Paris Cinema and the Lee would be renamed the Tanglewood Cinema. Both houses would be renovated. The July 24 issue of Boxoffice that year said that Esquire was now operating the Tanglewood as the only cinema in Lee. The chain’s improvements to the house included a new marquee, repositioned box office, a new concession stand and re-carpeting. I’ve been unable to discover how long the house operated under its new name.
The description’s opening year of 1931 for the Roxy is mistaken. The Boxoffice item about the Roxy’s opening cited in my first comment is from 1941. The Arcadia was still listed in the FDY that year, though listed as closed. The date May 10 is probably correct though.
I wonder if this item from the August 9, 1913 issue of Motogrpahy was about the Fad Theatre? “C. C. Frie, formerly of Ida Grove, has sold out his moving picture show at Eldora and has gone to Brookings, S. D., to locate. He is erecting a new building for a show at Brookings and will have a fine little theater.”
The Camas Opera House is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but was mentioned in the local paper at least as early as December 19, 1908. A 1922 Sanborn map of Camas shows the Opera House at what was then 305 Clarke Street, and today would be 305 NE Adams Street. The site is now a parking lot for the Fort James Paper Company’s mill. The house might have undergone expansion around 1913, as the 1912-1913 Cahn guide lists it with 300 seats, and the 1914 Gus Hill guide lists it with 600.
The Grand Theatre was listed at Camas, Washington in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The only other theater listed was the Camas Opera House. No details were provided for either venue. I’ve been unable to find any mentions of the Grand in theater industry trade journals.
A 1922 Sanborn map shows “Motion Pictures” in a good-sized building at 225-227 4th St. (now NE 4th Ave.) adjacent to the Grand Central Hotel. The building on the site now, housing Camas Vision Centre, may be the original structure, but I’m not positive. The theater building was wooden, but the current structure has at least a façade made of brick, which could have been added to the wooden building. The only other movie theater on the 1922 map is the Opera House, so 225-227 had to have been the Grand.
Comparison of the historic photo of the Broadway Theatre and current Google street view reveals that the theater entrance was at 360 S. Broadway Street, which is currently used as a co-working office space called Estacada Powerhouse. Views at Historic Aerials show that a building behind the existing structure did vanish sometime between 1994 and 2000. That must have been the auditorium.
There is no Ellensburg Avenue in Estacada. The Apple map is defaulting to Broadway and Third Avenue. Unless the Liberty had an earlier name, it wasn’t the town’s first movie house. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at Estacada: the Family Theatre on Broadway and the Star Theatre on Main Street.
The September 7, 1918 Motion Picture News said that “A. E. SPARKS plans leasing the Family theatre in Estacada, Ore., and having it reopened.”
The only mention of the Liberty I’ve found in the trade journals is from the May 9, 1925 issue of Universal Weekly in an article about the promotion of a Hoot Gibson movie at the house. The manager of the Liberty at that time had the surname Feyerabend.