The January 16, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item: “Omaha — Scott-Ballentyne Co. announces sale of sound projection and 500 seats to Bob Oliver and Mrs. Muriel Frandsen, who hope to open their new $25,000 house at Onawa, Ia., about Feb. 15….” The Iowa Theatre is first listed in the FDY in 1938, joining Mrs. Frandsen’s Onawa Theatre, which she had owned since 1926.
The Onowa Theatre was opened during the last week of November, 1900 as the IOOF Opera House. The Romanesque Revival style brick building was designed by local builder and contractor W. E. Hodgin. The 600-seat auditorium was the first theater in Onawa to have a proper raked floor, though its stage, despite ample width and depth, lacked a fly tower.
upper floor was occupied by the rooms of the Odd Fellows Lodge.
Disaster struck one month after opening, when a fire caused $6,500 dollars damage to the house on December 24, including the destruction of the theater’s costly chairs. Although repairs were completed and the house soon reopened, the lodge suffered financially from the expense, and actually lost control of the building from 1906 to 1908.
Movies came to Onawa in 1907, and the Opera House acquired a screen and projector to remain competitive with the Royal and Scenic Theaters. Still, live performances remained the principal draw at the Opera House until 1917, when a proper projection booth with two machines was finally installed. During this period the Opera House was operated in conjunction with a movie house called the Majestic Theatre.
After this, movies became the principal attraction at the house, though occasional live performances were presented until 1926 when a second fire destroyed the sate area and brought the era of live theater in Onawa to an end. A new owner, Miriam Frandsen, rebuilt the house as the Onawa Theater, which operated strictly as a movie house. It was the town’s only theater until 1937, when Mrs. Frandsen and her partners opened the new Iowa Theatre. Thereafter, the Onawa operated as the town’s “B” house until closing in 1953, at the dawn of the wide screen era. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The NRHP registration form for the building (PDF here) gives the construction date of 1900. It should be noted that multiple Wikipedia pages say the house was built in 1907. Given that the NRHP form cites multiple pre-1907 articles about the building from the local newspaper, Wikipedia and the web sites following its lead are certainly wrong.
The address of the Luna Theatre was 118 Main Street. The building has been thrown together with the adjacent one and, according to the June 28, 2015 Sioux City Journal, converted into an apartment house, but it is still recognizable by the shape of its roofline. The cornices are the only part of the Main Street façade that have not been covered up by ugly, gray siding, but the 2nd Street side still has the original (and very unusual) brick.
Falke’s is a nice looking building, but in satellite and Google street views I see no stage tower. I don’t see one in the 1938 view they have at Historic Aerials either. With such limited facilities, it’s not surprising that it didn’t rate a listing in the Cahn guides. I saw a photo of it from 2018 at Flickr, and the Google street view dates from 2012, and the building doesn’t appear to be in use in either of them. If it weren’t for the fact that the roof looks pretty good in the satellite view I’d fear it might not be around much longer.
The December 27, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World has the first mention of Remsen I can find in the trade journals, but it is about a house called the Lyric Theatre, which was moving to a new location. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a theater on Main Street in Remsen, but it is called the Mystic. The very first mentions of the Grand Opera House I’ve found are in three issues of Universal Weekly in 1918. The Grand is listed in the FDYs for 1926, 1928, and 1929, but for some reason Remsen gets skipped in the 1927 edition.
In 1927, Remsen had a house called the Falke Theatre. The February 26 Moving Picture World ran this item: “Ray and John Beck and Ray Wentz have turned over the Falke Theatre at Remsen, Iowa, which they have been operating for almost a year, to Henry Falke, owner of the theatre.” Originally the Falke Opera House, it dated from 1915 and occupied a two-story brick building at 16 E. 2nd Street, which was still standing in 2018. It was never listed in the FDY as far as I’ve seen, and the 1927 MPW item is the only mention of it I’ve found in theater trade journals, but the fact that it was mentioned that one time suggests that it could have been used for movies at least briefly.
Remsen’s theaters got next to no attention from the movie theater trade journals (and none at all that I’ve found in the theatrical publications such as the Cahn guides) before the Vogue opened, and even the Vogue didn’t get much.
The Vogue’s last hurrah was sponsored by the Remsen Chamber of Commerce, according to the March 25, 1974 issue of Boxoffice, which noted the organization’s “[e]xtensive renovation, remodeling, and reseating….” then underway the house. A definite reopening date was to be announced soon.
The De Steeo Theatre was the only theater listed at Orange City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but by 1916 it had either gotten some competition or had been renamed. The July 22, 1916 Moving Picture World said, with the dateline Orange City Ia., “J. Richards has purchased the interest of A. Miller in the Lyric Theatre>.” The name Lyric was still being used in 1921, but by 1923 Orange City had a theater called the Cottage. From the description of the De Steeo Theatres’s building, Cottage seems like an appropriate name for it. It’s possible that that De Steeo, Lyric, and Cottage were all akas for the same house. There might have been another aka later on.
The Cottage was listed as (CL) in the 1932 FDY, with 250 seats. That seems a bit large for the De Steeo’s building, but expansion of small, frame buildings is not difficult or very costly. The Cottage is listed through 1934, but in 1935 it vanishes and a house called the Nira Theatre appears, also with 250 seats. It seems likely that this was another name change. The Nira is listed through 1942, though its capacity had dropped to 200 seats.
Other sources indicate that the new Tulip Theatre was opened by early 1942, and an item from the July 19, 1941 Showmen’s Trade Review indicates that the owner of the Nira was planning to build a new theater: “Orange City, Iowa— H. Van Boxtle, owner and operator of the Nira Theatre here is planning a new house to open in the early fall. It will have a capacity of 350.” It seems likely that this was the house that opened as the Tulip.
I agree with SethG that 8th Street is impossible as the location of a theater open in the 1940s. A 1951 aerial view of Orange City shows nothing along 8th Street but a few houses, one larger building that might have been a church, and what might have been a gas station on the SE corner of Central Avenue. The Tulip Theatre had to have been farther north, in the old downtown along Central Avenue and the adjacent numbered side streets around Windmill Square.
Here is a belated response to Mark. If you want to know who uploaded a particular photo, go to the theater’s photo page, click on the thumbnail of the photo you want to know about, and when it opens look just to the right of the photo to see who uploaded it. Their name will be a link, and when you click on it it will open a page with more thumbnails of photos that user has uploaded, if any.
The photo of the Pekin’s organ was uploaded by Cinema Treasures member waldopapnyk, and the Pekin Theatre photo is one of 156 he has uploaded, many of which depict organs. I haven’t clicked on all of them to see if any others are from theaters in the Peoria area (a great many appear to be from Chicago) but will leave that to you. Happy hunting.
Here is a preview of the significant points in this rather long comment: The earliest instance of the name Pastime Theater being associated with Mapleton that I’ve yet found dates from June, 1919, but the house might have opened as early as 1916, under this or another name. It was still listed as the Pastime in 1938, by which time its seating capacity had been increased to 325. The name had been changed to Ritz Theater by Christmas, 1939 at the latest. The building was of brick, two stories, and had apartments above the theater. I’ve been unable to discover its correct address, its closing date, or its fate.
The only theater listed at Mapleton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Starland. In 1916, the May 20 issue of Moving Picture World had this item, which might have been about the Pastime: “MAPLETON, MINN.-A new moving picture house has been opened by C. L. Sellers.”
The next mention of Mapleton I’ve found in the trade journals, and the first which mentions the Pastime by name, is from Film Daily of July 21, 1919, which says “Mapleton, Minn.—O. D. Benjamin in charge of Pastime.” A few months later there is a capsule movie review in the April 3, 1920 issue of Exhibitors Herald submitted by “Kenneth Snyder, Pastime theatre, Mapleton, Minn.”
A May 28, 1949 Boxoffice item said that Harry Blubaugh had sold the Ritz Theater at Mapleton, Minnesota, after having operated it for twelve years. It was described as a two-story brick building with apartments. The earliest mention of Harry Blubaugh I’ve found is in the October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily, which said that Western Theatre Supply of Omaha had installed a Da-Lite screen in “…Harry D. Blubaugh’s Mapleton, Mapleton, Minn.” The theater name Mapleton was probably an error, as the 1938 FDY still listed the house as the Pastime, though its seating capacity had been increased to 325.
In any case, the house had become the Ritz by late 1939 at the latest, as a capsule review of “The Wizard of Oz” attributed to Harry Blubaugh of the Ritz, Mapleton, published in Motion Picture Herald in early 1940 said that attendance at the film had been only fair, due to the Christmas date.
Incidentally, if we ever find that the Opera House at Mapleton ran movies, and it gets listed here, the March 7, 1903 issue of The Improvement Bulletin had this item about it: “Mapleton, Minn.-Otto Schweer has concluded to erect an opera house, from plans by H. C. Gerlach, architect, of Mankato, Minn. Cost $10,000.” The Billboard of September 5, 1908 lists the Mapleton Opera House, managed by Otto Schweer, with 500 seats.
I wonder if this item published by Variety in September, 1911 could have been about this theater?“
"Sac City, Ia., is to have a vaudeville theatre seating 400, according to Abner Engle, who is swinging the deal. Engle will present motion pictures every evening excepting Sunday and should any acts stray around Sac City Impresario Engle will probably give them a showing.”
I’ve been unable to find any follow-up items, either about the theater or about Abner Engle, so can’t be positive the project even got built.
The only theater other than the Opera House listed at Sac City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric and was on Main Street. This seems a likely location for it, but there is a hitch. A Lyric Theatre at Sac City was mentioned in The Film Index in January, 1910. It could be that the Lyric opened in another location and moved to this building when the Odd Fellows built it in 1911.
Here is something probably irrelevant to this page, but I don’t know where else to put it: The January 15, 1916 Moving Picture World noted that “[t]he Pastime Theatre at Sac City was destroyed by fire.” That’s the only other Sac City theater name I’ve found from the time around 1915.
An item in the April 3, 1909 issue of Moving Picture World might have been about this house, but unfortunately gives no name for it. “Sac City, Ia.-Harry Arney has purchased a moving picture theater here, and has taken possession.” The only other mention of Harry Arney I’ve found is from 1900 and notes that his business was then real estate and insurance.
The 800-seat Casino was the only theater listed at Sac City in the 1926 FDY, but it was probably the proposed theater noted in this item from the September 11, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World: “SAC CITY, lA.—Walford W. Watt will erect new theatre on North Fifth street, with seating capacity of 1,000.” This was probably the house the opening of which was noted in the March 5, 1921 issue of The Billboard, though that item didn’t give the house a name, saying only that it had cost $50,000.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only two movie houses at Sac City, those being the Lyric Theatre on Main Street and the Opera House. There might have been an earlier Casino Theatre at Sac City, but if so I’ve been unable to find any mentions of it in the trade journals. I wonder if Casino might have been a briefly used aka for the Opera House?
The history section of the Lake City Capri Theatre’s web site says that the Iowa Theatre had been on the same site the Capri was later built on, so the address should be 115 N. Center Street. The fire that destroyed the house took place on New Year’s Day, 1958. The Iowa was last operated by Fridley Theatres.
Incidentally, the Iowa was part of a theater chain owned by Robert Fridley’s uncle Robert Bernau when Fridley leased the house and operated it on his own starting in 1950. It was while running the Iowa that Fridley met his future wife of 67 years, Myrna. Owner of perhaps the most successful regional, independent theater chain in the country, Bob Fridley died in February, 2021, at the age of 103. Read his obituary here.
Some issues of Boxoffice from 1971 call Dwight Hanson’s drive-in at Rockwell City the Golden Buckle Drive-In. Rockwell City has long touted itself with the appellation “The Golden Buckle on the Corn Belt.” The town still has a few businesses using the name, though the drive-in is long gone. I’ve been unable to discover just how long this aka was used, but it was definitely in use in 1971.
I haven’t been able to find any Sanborns of Rockwell City on the Iowa State web site other than the one from 1915. I did, however, come across this item from Motion Picture Herald, April 12, 1952: “R. M. Bernau and R. L. Fridley, both of Lake City, have purchased the Empress theatre at Rockwell City from R. M. Phillips and Oky Goodman. Bernau and Fridley, who also own the Iowa in Lake City and the King at Ida Grove, say the Empress will be closed sometime during the summer for a complete overhauling.”
The Empress was mentioned in the trade journals a few times in the 1950s, and there was still an indoor theater in Rockwell City, probably the Empress, in 1963, when the July 15 issue of Boxoffice said that “…Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Hanson, who have the conventional theatre and drive-in at Rockwell City, Iowa, visited in Des Moines last week…” I’m not sure when the Empress closed, but by 1971, on the occasions of Mr. Hanson’s visits to film row, Boxoffice identified him only as the operator of the Golden Buckle Drive-In.
Whether this house was the Magic Theatre, which was being “greatly improved” according to the January, 1912 issue of Motography, or the Electric Theater, which was mentioned in the June, 1912 issue of the same publication, or some other house with an unknown name, it was closed by 1916. The April 15 issue of Moving Picture World that year said: “Rockwell City, Ia.-Manager Meholin will have no competition for his handsome new Empress theater. He bought the Magic theater and closed it.”
The Magic Theatre was listed with 200 seats in the 1912 edition of Polk’s Iowa State business directory, and was the only house listed for Rockwell City. I suppose someone might have squeezed 200 seats in to this small building, but the theater on 4th Street would have accommodated them more comfortably. If the great improvements being planned for the Magic in January 1912 included any even modest increase in capacity, that would surely have put this location right out of the running.
Here is an item from the January 1912 issue of Motography: “The Magic Moving Picture Theater at Rockwell City will be greatly improved.”
Rockwell City is mentioned again in the June, 1912 issue of the same journal: “The Electric Theater at Rockwell City has been purchased by F. G. Winston, who will make improvements.”
I’ve been unable to determine if Electric Theater was an aka for the Magic Theater or was a rival house. The Magic Theatre was the only house listed at Rockwell City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but listings in the directory were sometimes incomplete, so the Electric might still have been in operation then.
Judging from this item in the March 4, 1916 Motion Picture News, the Empress was probably not the former Opera House: “G. L. Meholin has opened the Empress, Rockwell City, a brand new house built in an unusual manner. It has no lobby, the entrance being a mere vestibule. It is a modern little house, with fine projection and interior finishing.”
The first announcement about Mr. Meholin’s plans I’ve found is from the October 16, 1915 Moving Picture World, which said: “ROCKWELL CITY, IA.-G. L. Meholin is having plans prepared for a one-story moving picture theater, 22 by 110 feet, to cost $5,000.” An October 30 item in the same journal upped the projected cost of Mr. Meholin’s theater to $10,000.
Given that delays in publication were common in trade journals of the era, the project might have gotten underway prior to October, 1915 and the Empress might have opened earlier than March, 1916, and perhaps even by late 1915.
The June 20, 1918 issue of The Princeton Union carried an advertisement giving the upcoming schedule for the “Strand Theater (Formerly Crystal)….” The earliest appearance of the name Crystal Theater I’ve seen in the paper is in 1915. Prior to that the only theater name to appear was Happyland.
The theater marquee was still on the Strand building in the mid-1980s, when the Union published a photo of it with a caption noting that it still looked much the same as it had the previous year when a St. Paul architect had announced that he would remodel the interior for a mixed use project. Comments on the local Facebook page also say that for a time the building housed a nightclub called Porky’s, but it isn’t pinned down to a specific era.
Princeton might have had more than one house called the Strand. The “New Theatres” column of Film Daily for May 6, 1927 said (with dateline Princeton, Minn.) “M. C. Kruschke has opened the Strand, seating 500.” But M. C. Krushke’s Strand at Princeton had also been mentioned in the December 8, 1923 Universal Weekly. FDYs list the Strand with 350 seats from 1926 through 1929.
Information is very sketchy, but some local sources say that the Strand building was converted into apartments, not demolished. A Strand Building is listed on a real estate web site at 121 S. Rum River Drive (formerly called 5th Avenue), and is a good match for a ca.1984 photo of a closed Strand Theatre which was posted to Pinterest, with no additional information, from a link that is no longer active. The real estate web site says the Strand Building dates from 1914, so it could be that the Strand started out as the Happyland Theater, the only movie house listed at Princeton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
CinemaTour gives the Strand an address of 128 5th Avenue N., which I think must have been the address of a later Strand. That address is in a modern strip mall, and in a comment on a Princeton nostalgia Facebook page one member says “I go to church in the old strand theatre in the mall next to pizza barn every Friday night, I look around & try to remember what it looked like, I last remember taking my oldest there in 1998 when she was 6 months.” The Pizza Barn is listed on the Internet at 128 N. Rum River Dr., so I’m thinking the 1980s era replacement for the Strand probably occupied both the church space and the Pizza Barn space. The Facebook commenter is likely too young to remember the original Strand.
That’s all a bit confusing, but I’m sure that 121 Rum River Dr. S. is the correct modern address of the original Strand Theatre, which might have opened in 1914, possibly as the Happyland Theatre, and might have been expanded in 1927. The building still has the old stage structure, which might have been original from 1914 or might have been added in a remodeling. Unfortunately the newest Sanborn map of Princeton available online dates from 1912.
When the address is corrected per Ron Pierce’s information above, we can also add the opening year 1927, when the “New Theatres” column of the May 6 Film Daily said that “A. Molins will open the El Cajon on May 18.”
The January 16, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item: “Omaha — Scott-Ballentyne Co. announces sale of sound projection and 500 seats to Bob Oliver and Mrs. Muriel Frandsen, who hope to open their new $25,000 house at Onawa, Ia., about Feb. 15….” The Iowa Theatre is first listed in the FDY in 1938, joining Mrs. Frandsen’s Onawa Theatre, which she had owned since 1926.
The Onowa Theatre was opened during the last week of November, 1900 as the IOOF Opera House. The Romanesque Revival style brick building was designed by local builder and contractor W. E. Hodgin. The 600-seat auditorium was the first theater in Onawa to have a proper raked floor, though its stage, despite ample width and depth, lacked a fly tower.
upper floor was occupied by the rooms of the Odd Fellows Lodge.
Disaster struck one month after opening, when a fire caused $6,500 dollars damage to the house on December 24, including the destruction of the theater’s costly chairs. Although repairs were completed and the house soon reopened, the lodge suffered financially from the expense, and actually lost control of the building from 1906 to 1908.
Movies came to Onawa in 1907, and the Opera House acquired a screen and projector to remain competitive with the Royal and Scenic Theaters. Still, live performances remained the principal draw at the Opera House until 1917, when a proper projection booth with two machines was finally installed. During this period the Opera House was operated in conjunction with a movie house called the Majestic Theatre.
After this, movies became the principal attraction at the house, though occasional live performances were presented until 1926 when a second fire destroyed the sate area and brought the era of live theater in Onawa to an end. A new owner, Miriam Frandsen, rebuilt the house as the Onawa Theater, which operated strictly as a movie house. It was the town’s only theater until 1937, when Mrs. Frandsen and her partners opened the new Iowa Theatre. Thereafter, the Onawa operated as the town’s “B” house until closing in 1953, at the dawn of the wide screen era. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The NRHP registration form for the building (PDF here) gives the construction date of 1900. It should be noted that multiple Wikipedia pages say the house was built in 1907. Given that the NRHP form cites multiple pre-1907 articles about the building from the local newspaper, Wikipedia and the web sites following its lead are certainly wrong.
The address of the Luna Theatre was 118 Main Street. The building has been thrown together with the adjacent one and, according to the June 28, 2015 Sioux City Journal, converted into an apartment house, but it is still recognizable by the shape of its roofline. The cornices are the only part of the Main Street façade that have not been covered up by ugly, gray siding, but the 2nd Street side still has the original (and very unusual) brick.
Falke’s is a nice looking building, but in satellite and Google street views I see no stage tower. I don’t see one in the 1938 view they have at Historic Aerials either. With such limited facilities, it’s not surprising that it didn’t rate a listing in the Cahn guides. I saw a photo of it from 2018 at Flickr, and the Google street view dates from 2012, and the building doesn’t appear to be in use in either of them. If it weren’t for the fact that the roof looks pretty good in the satellite view I’d fear it might not be around much longer.
The December 27, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World has the first mention of Remsen I can find in the trade journals, but it is about a house called the Lyric Theatre, which was moving to a new location. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a theater on Main Street in Remsen, but it is called the Mystic. The very first mentions of the Grand Opera House I’ve found are in three issues of Universal Weekly in 1918. The Grand is listed in the FDYs for 1926, 1928, and 1929, but for some reason Remsen gets skipped in the 1927 edition.
In 1927, Remsen had a house called the Falke Theatre. The February 26 Moving Picture World ran this item: “Ray and John Beck and Ray Wentz have turned over the Falke Theatre at Remsen, Iowa, which they have been operating for almost a year, to Henry Falke, owner of the theatre.” Originally the Falke Opera House, it dated from 1915 and occupied a two-story brick building at 16 E. 2nd Street, which was still standing in 2018. It was never listed in the FDY as far as I’ve seen, and the 1927 MPW item is the only mention of it I’ve found in theater trade journals, but the fact that it was mentioned that one time suggests that it could have been used for movies at least briefly.
Remsen’s theaters got next to no attention from the movie theater trade journals (and none at all that I’ve found in the theatrical publications such as the Cahn guides) before the Vogue opened, and even the Vogue didn’t get much.
The Vogue’s last hurrah was sponsored by the Remsen Chamber of Commerce, according to the March 25, 1974 issue of Boxoffice, which noted the organization’s “[e]xtensive renovation, remodeling, and reseating….” then underway the house. A definite reopening date was to be announced soon.
The De Steeo Theatre was the only theater listed at Orange City in the 1914-1915American Motion Picture Directory, but by 1916 it had either gotten some competition or had been renamed. The July 22, 1916 Moving Picture World said, with the dateline Orange City Ia., “J. Richards has purchased the interest of A. Miller in the Lyric Theatre>.” The name Lyric was still being used in 1921, but by 1923 Orange City had a theater called the Cottage. From the description of the De Steeo Theatres’s building, Cottage seems like an appropriate name for it. It’s possible that that De Steeo, Lyric, and Cottage were all akas for the same house. There might have been another aka later on.
The Cottage was listed as (CL) in the 1932 FDY, with 250 seats. That seems a bit large for the De Steeo’s building, but expansion of small, frame buildings is not difficult or very costly. The Cottage is listed through 1934, but in 1935 it vanishes and a house called the Nira Theatre appears, also with 250 seats. It seems likely that this was another name change. The Nira is listed through 1942, though its capacity had dropped to 200 seats.
Other sources indicate that the new Tulip Theatre was opened by early 1942, and an item from the July 19, 1941 Showmen’s Trade Review indicates that the owner of the Nira was planning to build a new theater: “Orange City, Iowa— H. Van Boxtle, owner and operator of the Nira Theatre here is planning a new house to open in the early fall. It will have a capacity of 350.” It seems likely that this was the house that opened as the Tulip.
I agree with SethG that 8th Street is impossible as the location of a theater open in the 1940s. A 1951 aerial view of Orange City shows nothing along 8th Street but a few houses, one larger building that might have been a church, and what might have been a gas station on the SE corner of Central Avenue. The Tulip Theatre had to have been farther north, in the old downtown along Central Avenue and the adjacent numbered side streets around Windmill Square.
Here is a belated response to Mark. If you want to know who uploaded a particular photo, go to the theater’s photo page, click on the thumbnail of the photo you want to know about, and when it opens look just to the right of the photo to see who uploaded it. Their name will be a link, and when you click on it it will open a page with more thumbnails of photos that user has uploaded, if any.
The photo of the Pekin’s organ was uploaded by Cinema Treasures member waldopapnyk, and the Pekin Theatre photo is one of 156 he has uploaded, many of which depict organs. I haven’t clicked on all of them to see if any others are from theaters in the Peoria area (a great many appear to be from Chicago) but will leave that to you. Happy hunting.
Here is a preview of the significant points in this rather long comment: The earliest instance of the name Pastime Theater being associated with Mapleton that I’ve yet found dates from June, 1919, but the house might have opened as early as 1916, under this or another name. It was still listed as the Pastime in 1938, by which time its seating capacity had been increased to 325. The name had been changed to Ritz Theater by Christmas, 1939 at the latest. The building was of brick, two stories, and had apartments above the theater. I’ve been unable to discover its correct address, its closing date, or its fate.
The only theater listed at Mapleton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Starland. In 1916, the May 20 issue of Moving Picture World had this item, which might have been about the Pastime: “MAPLETON, MINN.-A new moving picture house has been opened by C. L. Sellers.”
The next mention of Mapleton I’ve found in the trade journals, and the first which mentions the Pastime by name, is from Film Daily of July 21, 1919, which says “Mapleton, Minn.—O. D. Benjamin in charge of Pastime.” A few months later there is a capsule movie review in the April 3, 1920 issue of Exhibitors Herald submitted by “Kenneth Snyder, Pastime theatre, Mapleton, Minn.”
A May 28, 1949 Boxoffice item said that Harry Blubaugh had sold the Ritz Theater at Mapleton, Minnesota, after having operated it for twelve years. It was described as a two-story brick building with apartments. The earliest mention of Harry Blubaugh I’ve found is in the October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily, which said that Western Theatre Supply of Omaha had installed a Da-Lite screen in “…Harry D. Blubaugh’s Mapleton, Mapleton, Minn.” The theater name Mapleton was probably an error, as the 1938 FDY still listed the house as the Pastime, though its seating capacity had been increased to 325.
In any case, the house had become the Ritz by late 1939 at the latest, as a capsule review of “The Wizard of Oz” attributed to Harry Blubaugh of the Ritz, Mapleton, published in Motion Picture Herald in early 1940 said that attendance at the film had been only fair, due to the Christmas date.
Incidentally, if we ever find that the Opera House at Mapleton ran movies, and it gets listed here, the March 7, 1903 issue of The Improvement Bulletin had this item about it: “Mapleton, Minn.-Otto Schweer has concluded to erect an opera house, from plans by H. C. Gerlach, architect, of Mankato, Minn. Cost $10,000.” The Billboard of September 5, 1908 lists the Mapleton Opera House, managed by Otto Schweer, with 500 seats.
I wonder if this item published by Variety in September, 1911 could have been about this theater?“
I’ve been unable to find any follow-up items, either about the theater or about Abner Engle, so can’t be positive the project even got built.The only theater other than the Opera House listed at Sac City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric and was on Main Street. This seems a likely location for it, but there is a hitch. A Lyric Theatre at Sac City was mentioned in The Film Index in January, 1910. It could be that the Lyric opened in another location and moved to this building when the Odd Fellows built it in 1911.
Here is something probably irrelevant to this page, but I don’t know where else to put it: The January 15, 1916 Moving Picture World noted that “[t]he Pastime Theatre at Sac City was destroyed by fire.” That’s the only other Sac City theater name I’ve found from the time around 1915.
An item in the April 3, 1909 issue of Moving Picture World might have been about this house, but unfortunately gives no name for it. “Sac City, Ia.-Harry Arney has purchased a moving picture theater here, and has taken possession.” The only other mention of Harry Arney I’ve found is from 1900 and notes that his business was then real estate and insurance.
The 800-seat Casino was the only theater listed at Sac City in the 1926 FDY, but it was probably the proposed theater noted in this item from the September 11, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World: “SAC CITY, lA.—Walford W. Watt will erect new theatre on North Fifth street, with seating capacity of 1,000.” This was probably the house the opening of which was noted in the March 5, 1921 issue of The Billboard, though that item didn’t give the house a name, saying only that it had cost $50,000.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only two movie houses at Sac City, those being the Lyric Theatre on Main Street and the Opera House. There might have been an earlier Casino Theatre at Sac City, but if so I’ve been unable to find any mentions of it in the trade journals. I wonder if Casino might have been a briefly used aka for the Opera House?
The history section of the Lake City Capri Theatre’s web site says that the Iowa Theatre had been on the same site the Capri was later built on, so the address should be 115 N. Center Street. The fire that destroyed the house took place on New Year’s Day, 1958. The Iowa was last operated by Fridley Theatres.
Incidentally, the Iowa was part of a theater chain owned by Robert Fridley’s uncle Robert Bernau when Fridley leased the house and operated it on his own starting in 1950. It was while running the Iowa that Fridley met his future wife of 67 years, Myrna. Owner of perhaps the most successful regional, independent theater chain in the country, Bob Fridley died in February, 2021, at the age of 103. Read his obituary here.
Some issues of Boxoffice from 1971 call Dwight Hanson’s drive-in at Rockwell City the Golden Buckle Drive-In. Rockwell City has long touted itself with the appellation “The Golden Buckle on the Corn Belt.” The town still has a few businesses using the name, though the drive-in is long gone. I’ve been unable to discover just how long this aka was used, but it was definitely in use in 1971.
I haven’t been able to find any Sanborns of Rockwell City on the Iowa State web site other than the one from 1915. I did, however, come across this item from Motion Picture Herald, April 12, 1952: “R. M. Bernau and R. L. Fridley, both of Lake City, have purchased the Empress theatre at Rockwell City from R. M. Phillips and Oky Goodman. Bernau and Fridley, who also own the Iowa in Lake City and the King at Ida Grove, say the Empress will be closed sometime during the summer for a complete overhauling.”
The Empress was mentioned in the trade journals a few times in the 1950s, and there was still an indoor theater in Rockwell City, probably the Empress, in 1963, when the July 15 issue of Boxoffice said that “…Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Hanson, who have the conventional theatre and drive-in at Rockwell City, Iowa, visited in Des Moines last week…” I’m not sure when the Empress closed, but by 1971, on the occasions of Mr. Hanson’s visits to film row, Boxoffice identified him only as the operator of the Golden Buckle Drive-In.
200 seats would be an awfully tight squeeze for the building on Main Street.
Whether this house was the Magic Theatre, which was being “greatly improved” according to the January, 1912 issue of Motography, or the Electric Theater, which was mentioned in the June, 1912 issue of the same publication, or some other house with an unknown name, it was closed by 1916. The April 15 issue of Moving Picture World that year said: “Rockwell City, Ia.-Manager Meholin will have no competition for his handsome new Empress theater. He bought the Magic theater and closed it.”
The Magic Theatre was listed with 200 seats in the 1912 edition of Polk’s Iowa State business directory, and was the only house listed for Rockwell City. I suppose someone might have squeezed 200 seats in to this small building, but the theater on 4th Street would have accommodated them more comfortably. If the great improvements being planned for the Magic in January 1912 included any even modest increase in capacity, that would surely have put this location right out of the running.
Also, the Magic Theatre was the only house listed at Rockwell City in the 1912 Polk Iowa State directory, where it was listed with 200 seats.
Here is an item from the January 1912 issue of Motography: “The Magic Moving Picture Theater at Rockwell City will be greatly improved.”
Rockwell City is mentioned again in the June, 1912 issue of the same journal: “The Electric Theater at Rockwell City has been purchased by F. G. Winston, who will make improvements.”
I’ve been unable to determine if Electric Theater was an aka for the Magic Theater or was a rival house. The Magic Theatre was the only house listed at Rockwell City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but listings in the directory were sometimes incomplete, so the Electric might still have been in operation then.
Judging from this item in the March 4, 1916 Motion Picture News, the Empress was probably not the former Opera House: “G. L. Meholin has opened the Empress, Rockwell City, a brand new house built in an unusual manner. It has no lobby, the entrance being a mere vestibule. It is a modern little house, with fine projection and interior finishing.”
The first announcement about Mr. Meholin’s plans I’ve found is from the October 16, 1915 Moving Picture World, which said: “ROCKWELL CITY, IA.-G. L. Meholin is having plans prepared for a one-story moving picture theater, 22 by 110 feet, to cost $5,000.” An October 30 item in the same journal upped the projected cost of Mr. Meholin’s theater to $10,000.
Given that delays in publication were common in trade journals of the era, the project might have gotten underway prior to October, 1915 and the Empress might have opened earlier than March, 1916, and perhaps even by late 1915.
The June 20, 1918 issue of The Princeton Union carried an advertisement giving the upcoming schedule for the “Strand Theater (Formerly Crystal)….” The earliest appearance of the name Crystal Theater I’ve seen in the paper is in 1915. Prior to that the only theater name to appear was Happyland.
The theater marquee was still on the Strand building in the mid-1980s, when the Union published a photo of it with a caption noting that it still looked much the same as it had the previous year when a St. Paul architect had announced that he would remodel the interior for a mixed use project. Comments on the local Facebook page also say that for a time the building housed a nightclub called Porky’s, but it isn’t pinned down to a specific era.
Princeton might have had more than one house called the Strand. The “New Theatres” column of Film Daily for May 6, 1927 said (with dateline Princeton, Minn.) “M. C. Kruschke has opened the Strand, seating 500.” But M. C. Krushke’s Strand at Princeton had also been mentioned in the December 8, 1923 Universal Weekly. FDYs list the Strand with 350 seats from 1926 through 1929.
Information is very sketchy, but some local sources say that the Strand building was converted into apartments, not demolished. A Strand Building is listed on a real estate web site at 121 S. Rum River Drive (formerly called 5th Avenue), and is a good match for a ca.1984 photo of a closed Strand Theatre which was posted to Pinterest, with no additional information, from a link that is no longer active. The real estate web site says the Strand Building dates from 1914, so it could be that the Strand started out as the Happyland Theater, the only movie house listed at Princeton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
CinemaTour gives the Strand an address of 128 5th Avenue N., which I think must have been the address of a later Strand. That address is in a modern strip mall, and in a comment on a Princeton nostalgia Facebook page one member says “I go to church in the old strand theatre in the mall next to pizza barn every Friday night, I look around & try to remember what it looked like, I last remember taking my oldest there in 1998 when she was 6 months.” The Pizza Barn is listed on the Internet at 128 N. Rum River Dr., so I’m thinking the 1980s era replacement for the Strand probably occupied both the church space and the Pizza Barn space. The Facebook commenter is likely too young to remember the original Strand.
That’s all a bit confusing, but I’m sure that 121 Rum River Dr. S. is the correct modern address of the original Strand Theatre, which might have opened in 1914, possibly as the Happyland Theatre, and might have been expanded in 1927. The building still has the old stage structure, which might have been original from 1914 or might have been added in a remodeling. Unfortunately the newest Sanborn map of Princeton available online dates from 1912.
When the address is corrected per Ron Pierce’s information above, we can also add the opening year 1927, when the “New Theatres” column of the May 6 Film Daily said that “A. Molins will open the El Cajon on May 18.”