Mallory Opera House

Constructed in 1897, this was a typical opera house of the era for a mid-sized Midwestern town. It was a three story brick building with retail spaces in the front flanking a central entrance. It was a fairly tall building, and had a large stage at the rear, and a generous balcony.

At some point early in the history of film, Fred Smith began showing films here, renaming it Empress Theatre. This continued until the summer of 1915, when he completed the conversion of a building on the square as a dedicated cinema and named New Empress Theatre.

The Mallory Opera House continued to operate through at least the end of 1916 with live acts. Later maps are not available online, but this was demolished many years ago. The site is a parking lot.

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

Joe Vogel on May 19, 2025 at 4:22 pm

This item from the August 14, 1915 Moving Picture World doesn’t quite match the description above:

“F. C. Smith, formerly of Tulsa, Okla., is now manager of the former Mallory Opera house, and changed its name to the Empress theater. Mr. Smith thoroughly renovated and refurnished the house, installed fans and other improvements and conveniences, and intends to give Paola the best there is. Mrs. Smith sings at each program. Mr. Smith is well known at Springfield, Mo., Columbus, Mo., Dallas, Tex., and Hot Springs, Ark., where he managed moving picture playhouses in the past ten years. He has also previously managed in Topeka.”

So Mr. Smith was a new arrival in Paola in 1915, and the Opera House was renamed Empress Theatre when he took over. The opening of the later Empress likely took place in early 1916, as suggested by this item in the February 19 issue of MPW that year: “Paola. Kan.—The New Empress is the name of a moving picture theater opened here by F. C. Smith.”

SethG on May 19, 2025 at 6:13 pm

That makes sense. The new Empress was supposedly a remodeled commercial building, but he could have used the name here first.