Don Theatre

The Robert L. Burchell Building was built in 1894 and it was home to three entertainment destinations: the Erie Opera House, the American Legion fraternal hall, and the sound-era J&G and Don theaters. Its main floor at launch in 1894 was his Burchell Store where the first location had opened in 1869. Burchell created a cheese factory in 1875 on the outskirts of town and would become President of the First National Bank.

Burchell continued the retail store until 1928 just shy of the store’s 60th Anniversary. Its upstairs tenant, the Erie Opera House was there for the store’s entire run. The Opera House was a 1,500-seat, second floor operation that mainly programmed live performances. Performers could stay overnight at the 1885-built St. Nicholas Hotel. And it’s where many Erieites saw their first moving pictures.

But when Burchell left, an opportunity was ahead. The Erie Opera House appears to have ceased operations or stopped advertising in 1931. In 1936, Fred D. Slenker took on the main floor of the building and converted it to a movie house. It opened with the Paramount Pictures contract for programming on August 6, 1936 with Bing Crosby in “Anything Goes” supported by a Popeye cartoon, a Duke Ellington music revue short, and one of its primary methods of attracting Depression-era patrons - a $10 bank night quasi-lottery.

Apparently, the operation was not a success with sound being a major concern. Slenker gave the venue a Streamline Moderne style makeover with improved sound system and acoustical wall treatment as the New Erie Theatre on November 11, 1937 still with the Paramount programming contract. Opening was Jean Arthur in “Easy Living” supported by “George Hall and his Orchestra” (aka “Music Over Broadway”) and Betty Boop in “Happy You and Merry Me”.

The theatre got new operators in John & George Farral changing names using their first name initials: the J&G Theatre in 1947. John & George closed the J&G with Abbott and Costello in “Lost in Alaska” on January 31, 1953. The operators of the theatre claimed there were no customers on multiple nights toward the end of its run.

Despite that box office news, the venue got one last operator in Don and Vivian Bowen who went with widescreen projection to present CinemaScope films on a four day-a-week policy. They opened the Don Theatre on July 15, 1954 with Leo Gorcey in “Feudin' Fools” and Johnny Sheffield in “Safari Drums”. But widescreen didn’t stem the tide to television - to say nothing of better theatres in Morrison’s Capitol Theatre just 18 miles away and many Quad Cities' options just 30 miles away. The Don Theatre closed on January 7, 1957 with Steve Allen in “The Benny Goodman Story” ending the town’s theatrical exhibition.

The theatre’s floor was leveled and the space split into two clothing shops for Schilling’s Mens store and Nell Bee’s Womens store. The American Legion was the final occupant of the Burchell Building. The rear of the building collapsed and the remainder of the building was razed in May of 1988 six years shy of its 100th birthday. The Burchell Block was replaced with a smaller retail building.

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