United Theatre

The Syndicate Block was constructed on a small island close to the south bank of the Cedar River in 1900, replacing a smaller creamery supply factory. It was originally a 4 story brick office building with a square plan, but by 1910 a very large auditorium had been added at the rear, while the office portion had been raised to 5 stories.

The 1910 map shows this operating as the Syndicate Theatre & Opera House, while the 1918 map shows it as the Majestic Theatre. On September 13, 1920 with ‘Six Big Acts of Vaudeville and a Movie’ it reopened as the United Theatre, operated by United Theatres of America. It had closed by 1925. There is an inexplicable gap in maps of Waterloo, and the final Sanborn was a 1962 update of the 1918 map. This shows that the theatre was closed, and the entire structure had become the Davidson furniture store.

Waterloo’s downtown is a sad wreck, and nearly everything has been replaced by repellent 1970’s-1980’s buildings, or turned into surface parking. This building has been gone for many years, and the original bridge and island are also gone. The space is a grassy vacant lot ‘park’ that no-one can get to without crossing a busy street.

The historical address would have been on Bridge St, but that was eliminated when 4th was realigned during ‘urban renewal’.

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