The Garden was one of eight theaters that had so far been built for John Kunsky, all designed by C. Howard Crane, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World
The December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World listed the eight Detroit theaters so far built for John Kunsky, including the Empress, and said that all eight had been designed by C. Howard Crane.
This web page from the Chisholm Trail Museum has a history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales. The Regent was opened by Charles W. Ash as the Ashland Theatre on April 5, 1921. In June, 1928 the Ashland and the Majestic Theatre came under the control of the Miller Show Company, who operated a regional chain of theaters featuring movies produced by William Fox’s studio. Following Mr. Fox’s bankruptcy in the early 1930s, this company was reorganized as Fox Midwest Theatres, affiliated with the reorganized 20th Century Fox studio.
Soon after Miller’s acquisition, the Ashland Theatre was closed for major remodeling, which included increasing the rake of the auditorium and reseating in a semi-circular pattern so every seat faced the center of the screen. A Robert Morton organ replaced the Wurlitzer which had been installed in 1924. The house was reopened as the Regent on September 3, 1928. Sound was installed the next year, with the first show on April 3, 1929. Miller Show and its successor Fox Midwest operated the Regent until March, 1959, after which it was operated by a series of independent owners.
Accirding to the history of Wellington’s theaters on this web page, the theater at 106 S. Washington Avenue was opened by Ted Jocelyn as the Edison Electric Theater on September 13, 1907. The show was a great success, and the landlord, a Mr. Savage, grew envious and evicted Mr. Jocelyn and began operating the house himself in June, 1908, renaming it the Pioneer Picture Theater.
In 1910, Savage sold the house to the partnership of Clayton and Buford, who were already operating the Majestic Theater. They renamed the Pioneer Isis, and it continued to operate for more than a decade. The closure of the Isis by 1923 was probably a consequence of the opening of the much larger Ashland Theater in April, 1921.
The Majestic Theatre did not become the Ashland, according to a quite thorough history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales, published in 1921 and available on this web page provided by Wellington’s Chisholm Trail Museum.
The Majestic opened as the Haligraph Theatre (named for owners Dr. Halliday and Mr. Graff) in August, 1909. New owners renamed it the Majestic in early 1910. In 1928 both the Ashland Theatre, which had opened in 1921, and the Majestic came under the control of the Miller Show Corporation, operators of the regional Fox theaters.
They remodeled and reopened the Ashland as the Fox Regent Theatre in 1928, converting it for sound in 1929. The Majestic continued to operate as a silent house into late 1929, with shows only on Fridays and Saturdays. In December, 1929, an article announced plans to remodel the Majestic, but they appear never to have come to fruition, and advertisements for the house simply vanished from the local paper.
The September 4, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World reported that the Jefferson Theatre in Goshen had been sold by its creditors, the Elkhart Trust Company, who had foreclosed on the house in 1914. The original investors, who had mortgaged the building after the $70,000 rebuilding in 1907, had defaulted and lost most of their investment. Charles J. Allardt, of South Bend, bought the Jefferson for the bargain price of between $30,000 and $35,000. He planned to reopen the theater as a combination house, with continuous shows of vaudeville and movies. The Allardt circuit was still operating the Jefferson at least as late as 1920.
The 1907 Sanborn map of Kansas City shows the People’s Theatre at 640 Minnesota Avenue. Sadly, the building has since been demolished.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he People’s theater of Kansas City which has been closed for a year, will open September 11 under new management. It will be known hereafter as the Columbian.” Most likely it had become part of the Columbian Amusement Company, which operated a circuit of vaudeville and burlesque houses in the region at least into the mid-1920s.
Operation as a live venue could account for the absence of the house from the 1914-1915 AMPD. It isn’t listed in the 1926 FDY either, though I suppose it could have operated under a different name by then. The building was eventually converted for retail use, as a photo from the 1960s shows a men’s clothing store in part of it, and the modernized façade looks like it might have dated from the 1940s or early 1950s.
This item, from the January 8, 1916 issue of The American Contractor mentions theater owner F. H. Graff, and the timing fits the known history of the Grand Theatre: “Moving Picture Theater, Estherville, Ia. Archt. J. E. Nason, 622 Corn Exchange bldg., Minneapolis. Owner F. H. Graff, Estherville. Contr., Ganley Constr. Co. Plymouth bldg. Excavating. Brk. Gen. contr. desires bids on plastering, ptg. elec. work.” We currently have five other theaters listed as the work of architect Joseph E. Nason.
There is a mention of the Pearl Theatre in the October 6, 1917 Moving Picture World: “Newton, Kan.—The Pearl theater has been purchased by H. E. Herbert, former owner of the Royal theater at Newton. He is one of the pioneer moving picture men of the town.”
Mr. Herbert was also the subject of this item from the March 20, 1913 issue of MPW: “NEIGHBORLY PICTURE MAN
‘Mr. H. E. Herbert, Newton, Kan., has for several months been looking forward to opening his show in his new building about the first of March. But because Mr. Herbert has a great deal of 'the milk of human kindness,’ and other kinds of unselfishness and fellow-feeling in his nature, he will not get into it until April 1. The explanation is well known to his friends in Newton, Kan., and is the kind of story that is a pleasure to circulate. Mr. Herbert’s theater building was being
erected by a contractor who was also working at the same time on a new store building for a hardware merchant. The hardware man’s store was burned and he was left without a suitable place in which to do business. Mr. Herbert immediately instructed the contractor to expend all his time and energies on the merchant’s store and let his go temporarily."
I haven’t been able to determine which theater Mr. Herbert had under construction in 1913. He owned the Royal for a time, but that wasn’t built until 1914 or 1915, so the 1913 project had to be some other house.
The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Newton, Kas.—J. A. Miller of Ottawa will erect an air-dome in Newton, which will be on a circuit with eleven other towns, as follows: Excelsior Springs, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Emporia, Salina, Hutchinson, Wichita, Winfield, Arkansas City and Ottawa. The season will open about May 25 and continue until September 25.”
Are we sure of the 1914 opening for this house? The January 2, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had this item: “NEWTON, KAN.—N. P. Nielson, 810 North 7th street, is preparing plans for a one and two-story moving picture theater, 50 by 150 feet. Lessee, T. H. McManus.” MPW’s report was a bit late, as the same project had been noted in the November 25, 1914 issue of Western Contractor with the notation “work under way.” It might have been completed before the end of 1914, though early 1915 seems as likely.
Both the 755-seat Andrews Theatre and the 816-seat Strand Theatre, the only two houses listed at Salamanca, were listed as part of the Schine Circuit in the 1926 FDY.
The August 2, 1950 issue of The Exhibitor said this: “In Vandalia, Ill., the Tanner Drive-In Theatres Corporation, Pana, Ill., opened its Vandalia Drive-In. It accommodates 500 cars.”
The August 16 issue of the same journal had another item, with more information about the Tanner Circuit: “In Vandalia, Ill., Mayor Cliff Rassler participated on behalf of the city in the formal grand opening of the Tanner Drive-In just off New Route 40. Herman Tanner, who resides in Vandalia, operates the circuit’s Liberty and Lincoln.
“The circuit also has a drive-in at Pana, Ill., at the east end of East Third street and like the local drive-in is of 500-car capacity. The Tanners also operate the Roseland and Eagle, Pana, and the Palace, Nokomis, Ill.”
We have the wrong opening year for this house. This web page, which has a brief history of the house, a couple of photos, and several ads, says that it opened in April, 1920. Architects were C. C. and A. L. Thayer. An item about the proposed house appeared in the August 2, 1919 issue of Exhibitors Herald
“Newcastle, Pa, to have $225,000 Film House
“NEWCASTLE, PA.— The West Penn Photoplay company has just announced the details of a new theatre to be built on North Mercer Street at a cost of $225,000.00. The plans, now in the hands of the architects, have just been made public. January 1, 1920, will mark the opening of the new house, it is claimed by C. C. Thayer, the architect, who toured the country inspecting the leading theatres in order that the best and
most up-to-date features might be incorporated.
“The building will measure 60 by 160 feet, will seat 1600 people, and is equipped with every comfort and convenience that can be installed. A contest soon to be opened will give the public an opportunity to christen the playhouse.”
This house was later known as the Princess Theatre. This page from a Kansas genealogy site has descriptions of Salina businesses taken from a booklet published in the 1910s (no exact date is provided) and one is C. A. Thacher’s Princess Theatre, 156 N. Santa Fe Avenue. Although the booklet is undated, the February 17, 1912 issue of The Billboard makes reference to “Carl A. Thacher, manager of Princess Theatre, Salina.”
If you check Google’s street view of this theater you can see that the auditorium is in a Quonset structure attached to the back of what looks like an older commercial building. As for the sequence of events, the fire that destroyed the Liberty Theatre was reported in the August 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. The item said that the town would not be without movies for long though, as the new theater being built there by Vern Powell was expected to open within the next two months.
An item in the June 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice reported that ground had been broken in Mabton for a new, 400-seat house that was expected to open on July 15. The owner’s name was mistakenly given as Dowell rather than Powell, and the July 15 opening date was hilariously overoptimistic, but the item does show that the new theater was planned quite some time before the August fire.
Incidentally, the Mabton Theatre, not the Liberty, is listed in the 1945 FDY, though it was listed as closed. Perhaps it was renamed Liberty after reopening. In 1945 it had 230 seats, as opposed to the 364 listed for the Mabton Theatre in the 1951 year book.
The April, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon had this item: “Winston-Salem, N. C.—The Lyric, a new picture theater, has been opened on Fourth street by M. E. Samreth, of Roanoke, Va.”
The recent opening of the new Royal Theatre at Salina, Kansas, was noted in the January 4, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World, so the house might actually have opened in late 1912.
The February 9, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the proposed Strand Tehatre: “The Strand Theatre is to be the name of a new moving picture house to be opened in Salina, Kan., by Herbert Thacher, the middle of March. This is one of the best towns in Kansas for moving pictures, and for that reason a good house will be erected. The seating capacity will be about 1,100.”
A slightly longer item about the project had been run in the December 4, 1915 issue of the same journal:
“H THACHER BUILDING A FINE HOUSE IN SALINA ΚΑΝ
“Hail to Herbert Thacher, who is going to give Salina, Kan. a touch of real high life in the moving picture business. Mr Thacher is having plans made for a fine playhouse at Salina which will be opened March 1. It will be one of the best in the state and in the West. It will have a seating capacity of 1,000, artistic decorations, everything of the best, from projection equipment to rugs; will be built of reinforced concrete and the whole will cost around 100,000. Mr. Thacher knows Salina through and through, and he knows the town wants something like what he is going to give it. He lives there. His brother ‘Bill’ runs the Royal theater there, and Mr. Thacher himself was formerly a partner in that enterprise. Latterly, Mr. Thacher has been traveling for the Universal Film & Supply Kansas City and has been accomplishing some very substantial good for the industry through his co-operative work with the exhibitors. The new theater will be on Main street in the heart of the city.”
The Air Dome is the only theater we have listed at Santa Fe and Ash Street, but this item appeared in the July 9, 1910 issue of Moving Picture World: “Salina, Kan.—The National Moving Picture Theater, at the corner of Santa Fe avenue and Ash street, owned by Thacher Bros., was badly damaged by fire.” If the 1911 map doesn’t show any other theaters at that intersection, it might be that the Air Dome was a cheap replacement for the lost National.
The only theater listed at Salina in the 1898 Cahn guide is the Salina Opera House, an upstairs auditorium seating 800. News of the New Theatre’s impending demise appeared in the August 8, 1925 issue of Exhibitor’s Daily Review, which said that the New Theatre, one of the oldest buildings in Salina, would soon be replaced by a seven-story hotel. Apparently the hotel project fell through and the office block was built instead.
A May, 1914 Sanborn map of De Pere reveals a small moving picture theater about the middle of the 100 block of South Broadway. The Sanborn has the address of 647 for that lot, but the even-numbered side of the block shows some addresses in the 600 range and some in the 100 range. The town was apparently in the process of renumbering its lots, and hadn’t gotten to the theater’s lot yet. But directly across the street from the theater was a store with the number 118, so the theater was probably 119. The building was too small for 300 seats, but there was plenty of room for expansion.
As for the name, it might have been called the Majestic even than. De Pere was skipped by the 1914-1915 AMPD, but the July 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon has an item about the opening of a new theater at De Pere called the Dreamland and said that its manager, J. A. Speaker, was also the manager of the Majestic. So we have evidence that De Pere had a Majestic Theatre as early as 1910, and that the building at 119 S. Broadway was occupied by a movie theater as early as May, 1914. I’ll keep looking for confirmation, but I suspect it’s very likely the case that the Majestic was here by 1914 and probably even earlier.
While M. J. Walsh was the original owner of this theater, he was not the architect. According to the June 4, 1910 issue of The American Contractor, plans for M. J. Walsh’s new theater on Kensington Avenue near Allegheny had been completed by architect Peter Kuhn, and bids for construction were being received by the owner.
The August 19, 1916 issue of The American Contractor had a notice about a theater project, to be built at the southeast corner of Broadway and Carman Street. Carman Street was wiped out by the redevelopment of the site, but it must have been this theater, owned by the Broadway Realty Company. The original architects were the firm of Custer & Seltzer (Walter L. Custer and Charles William Seltzer.) The house probably opened in 1917, but I think we must be missing an aka, as neither a Broadway nor a Midway Theatre is listed in the 1926 or 1929 FDYs.
Here is the first paragraph from an article about the centennial of the Park Theatre. It was published in the April 7, 2022 issue of the Winchendon Courier: “JAFFREY, New Hampshire (April 4, 2022) On May 1, 1922, an Italian immigrant named Romolo Vanni opened a business in Jaffrey, New Hampshire that would make a profound and long-lasting impression on a little mill town. The business was a moving picture theatre. He called it The Park Theatre to memorialize its facing across Main Street to Jaffrey’s downtown park common. Immediately it was a hit with people queuing up around the block to see Hollywood silent movies and occasional traveling vaudeville shows. For over half a century, it provided entertainment for the Monadnock Region and north-central Massachusetts.”
The May 28, 1941 issue of The Exhibitor had this item “Romulo Vianno’s Park, East Jaffrey, N. H., last week opened after almost two
months remodelling by Capitol Theatre Supply.”
The Garden was one of eight theaters that had so far been built for John Kunsky, all designed by C. Howard Crane, according to the December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World
The December 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World listed the eight Detroit theaters so far built for John Kunsky, including the Empress, and said that all eight had been designed by C. Howard Crane.
This web page from the Chisholm Trail Museum has a history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales. The Regent was opened by Charles W. Ash as the Ashland Theatre on April 5, 1921. In June, 1928 the Ashland and the Majestic Theatre came under the control of the Miller Show Company, who operated a regional chain of theaters featuring movies produced by William Fox’s studio. Following Mr. Fox’s bankruptcy in the early 1930s, this company was reorganized as Fox Midwest Theatres, affiliated with the reorganized 20th Century Fox studio.
Soon after Miller’s acquisition, the Ashland Theatre was closed for major remodeling, which included increasing the rake of the auditorium and reseating in a semi-circular pattern so every seat faced the center of the screen. A Robert Morton organ replaced the Wurlitzer which had been installed in 1924. The house was reopened as the Regent on September 3, 1928. Sound was installed the next year, with the first show on April 3, 1929. Miller Show and its successor Fox Midwest operated the Regent until March, 1959, after which it was operated by a series of independent owners.
Accirding to the history of Wellington’s theaters on this web page, the theater at 106 S. Washington Avenue was opened by Ted Jocelyn as the Edison Electric Theater on September 13, 1907. The show was a great success, and the landlord, a Mr. Savage, grew envious and evicted Mr. Jocelyn and began operating the house himself in June, 1908, renaming it the Pioneer Picture Theater.
In 1910, Savage sold the house to the partnership of Clayton and Buford, who were already operating the Majestic Theater. They renamed the Pioneer Isis, and it continued to operate for more than a decade. The closure of the Isis by 1923 was probably a consequence of the opening of the much larger Ashland Theater in April, 1921.
The Majestic Theatre did not become the Ashland, according to a quite thorough history of Wellington’s theaters by Jim Bales, published in 1921 and available on this web page provided by Wellington’s Chisholm Trail Museum.
The Majestic opened as the Haligraph Theatre (named for owners Dr. Halliday and Mr. Graff) in August, 1909. New owners renamed it the Majestic in early 1910. In 1928 both the Ashland Theatre, which had opened in 1921, and the Majestic came under the control of the Miller Show Corporation, operators of the regional Fox theaters.
They remodeled and reopened the Ashland as the Fox Regent Theatre in 1928, converting it for sound in 1929. The Majestic continued to operate as a silent house into late 1929, with shows only on Fridays and Saturdays. In December, 1929, an article announced plans to remodel the Majestic, but they appear never to have come to fruition, and advertisements for the house simply vanished from the local paper.
The September 4, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World reported that the Jefferson Theatre in Goshen had been sold by its creditors, the Elkhart Trust Company, who had foreclosed on the house in 1914. The original investors, who had mortgaged the building after the $70,000 rebuilding in 1907, had defaulted and lost most of their investment. Charles J. Allardt, of South Bend, bought the Jefferson for the bargain price of between $30,000 and $35,000. He planned to reopen the theater as a combination house, with continuous shows of vaudeville and movies. The Allardt circuit was still operating the Jefferson at least as late as 1920.
The 1907 Sanborn map of Kansas City shows the People’s Theatre at 640 Minnesota Avenue. Sadly, the building has since been demolished.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he People’s theater of Kansas City which has been closed for a year, will open September 11 under new management. It will be known hereafter as the Columbian.” Most likely it had become part of the Columbian Amusement Company, which operated a circuit of vaudeville and burlesque houses in the region at least into the mid-1920s.
Operation as a live venue could account for the absence of the house from the 1914-1915 AMPD. It isn’t listed in the 1926 FDY either, though I suppose it could have operated under a different name by then. The building was eventually converted for retail use, as a photo from the 1960s shows a men’s clothing store in part of it, and the modernized façade looks like it might have dated from the 1940s or early 1950s.
This item, from the January 8, 1916 issue of The American Contractor mentions theater owner F. H. Graff, and the timing fits the known history of the Grand Theatre: “Moving Picture Theater, Estherville, Ia. Archt. J. E. Nason, 622 Corn Exchange bldg., Minneapolis. Owner F. H. Graff, Estherville. Contr., Ganley Constr. Co. Plymouth bldg. Excavating. Brk. Gen. contr. desires bids on plastering, ptg. elec. work.” We currently have five other theaters listed as the work of architect Joseph E. Nason.
There is a mention of the Pearl Theatre in the October 6, 1917 Moving Picture World: “Newton, Kan.—The Pearl theater has been purchased by H. E. Herbert, former owner of the Royal theater at Newton. He is one of the pioneer moving picture men of the town.”
Mr. Herbert was also the subject of this item from the March 20, 1913 issue of MPW: “NEIGHBORLY PICTURE MAN
‘Mr. H. E. Herbert, Newton, Kan., has for several months been looking forward to opening his show in his new building about the first of March. But because Mr. Herbert has a great deal of 'the milk of human kindness,’ and other kinds of unselfishness and fellow-feeling in his nature, he will not get into it until April 1. The explanation is well known to his friends in Newton, Kan., and is the kind of story that is a pleasure to circulate. Mr. Herbert’s theater building was being erected by a contractor who was also working at the same time on a new store building for a hardware merchant. The hardware man’s store was burned and he was left without a suitable place in which to do business. Mr. Herbert immediately instructed the contractor to expend all his time and energies on the merchant’s store and let his go temporarily."
I haven’t been able to determine which theater Mr. Herbert had under construction in 1913. He owned the Royal for a time, but that wasn’t built until 1914 or 1915, so the 1913 project had to be some other house.
The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Newton, Kas.—J. A. Miller of Ottawa will erect an air-dome in Newton, which will be on a circuit with eleven other towns, as follows: Excelsior Springs, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Emporia, Salina, Hutchinson, Wichita, Winfield, Arkansas City and Ottawa. The season will open about May 25 and continue until September 25.”
Are we sure of the 1914 opening for this house? The January 2, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World had this item: “NEWTON, KAN.—N. P. Nielson, 810 North 7th street, is preparing plans for a one and two-story moving picture theater, 50 by 150 feet. Lessee, T. H. McManus.” MPW’s report was a bit late, as the same project had been noted in the November 25, 1914 issue of Western Contractor with the notation “work under way.” It might have been completed before the end of 1914, though early 1915 seems as likely.
Both the 755-seat Andrews Theatre and the 816-seat Strand Theatre, the only two houses listed at Salamanca, were listed as part of the Schine Circuit in the 1926 FDY.
The August 2, 1950 issue of The Exhibitor said this: “In Vandalia, Ill., the Tanner Drive-In Theatres Corporation, Pana, Ill., opened its Vandalia Drive-In. It accommodates 500 cars.”
The August 16 issue of the same journal had another item, with more information about the Tanner Circuit: “In Vandalia, Ill., Mayor Cliff Rassler participated on behalf of the city in the formal grand opening of the Tanner Drive-In just off New Route 40. Herman Tanner, who resides in Vandalia, operates the circuit’s Liberty and Lincoln.
“The circuit also has a drive-in at Pana, Ill., at the east end of East Third street and like the local drive-in is of 500-car capacity. The Tanners also operate the Roseland and Eagle, Pana, and the Palace, Nokomis, Ill.”
We have the wrong opening year for this house. This web page, which has a brief history of the house, a couple of photos, and several ads, says that it opened in April, 1920. Architects were C. C. and A. L. Thayer. An item about the proposed house appeared in the August 2, 1919 issue of Exhibitors Herald
This house was later known as the Princess Theatre. This page from a Kansas genealogy site has descriptions of Salina businesses taken from a booklet published in the 1910s (no exact date is provided) and one is C. A. Thacher’s Princess Theatre, 156 N. Santa Fe Avenue. Although the booklet is undated, the February 17, 1912 issue of The Billboard makes reference to “Carl A. Thacher, manager of Princess Theatre, Salina.”
If you check Google’s street view of this theater you can see that the auditorium is in a Quonset structure attached to the back of what looks like an older commercial building. As for the sequence of events, the fire that destroyed the Liberty Theatre was reported in the August 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. The item said that the town would not be without movies for long though, as the new theater being built there by Vern Powell was expected to open within the next two months.
An item in the June 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice reported that ground had been broken in Mabton for a new, 400-seat house that was expected to open on July 15. The owner’s name was mistakenly given as Dowell rather than Powell, and the July 15 opening date was hilariously overoptimistic, but the item does show that the new theater was planned quite some time before the August fire.
Incidentally, the Mabton Theatre, not the Liberty, is listed in the 1945 FDY, though it was listed as closed. Perhaps it was renamed Liberty after reopening. In 1945 it had 230 seats, as opposed to the 364 listed for the Mabton Theatre in the 1951 year book.
The April, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon had this item: “Winston-Salem, N. C.—The Lyric, a new picture theater, has been opened on Fourth street by M. E. Samreth, of Roanoke, Va.”
The recent opening of the new Royal Theatre at Salina, Kansas, was noted in the January 4, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World, so the house might actually have opened in late 1912.
The February 9, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the proposed Strand Tehatre: “The Strand Theatre is to be the name of a new moving picture house to be opened in Salina, Kan., by Herbert Thacher, the middle of March. This is one of the best towns in Kansas for moving pictures, and for that reason a good house will be erected. The seating capacity will be about 1,100.”
A slightly longer item about the project had been run in the December 4, 1915 issue of the same journal:
“H THACHER BUILDING A FINE HOUSE IN SALINA ΚΑΝ
“Hail to Herbert Thacher, who is going to give Salina, Kan. a touch of real high life in the moving picture business. Mr Thacher is having plans made for a fine playhouse at Salina which will be opened March 1. It will be one of the best in the state and in the West. It will have a seating capacity of 1,000, artistic decorations, everything of the best, from projection equipment to rugs; will be built of reinforced concrete and the whole will cost around 100,000. Mr. Thacher knows Salina through and through, and he knows the town wants something like what he is going to give it. He lives there. His brother ‘Bill’ runs the Royal theater there, and Mr. Thacher himself was formerly a partner in that enterprise. Latterly, Mr. Thacher has been traveling for the Universal Film & Supply Kansas City and has been accomplishing some very substantial good for the industry through his co-operative work with the exhibitors. The new theater will be on Main street in the heart of the city.”
The Air Dome is the only theater we have listed at Santa Fe and Ash Street, but this item appeared in the July 9, 1910 issue of Moving Picture World: “Salina, Kan.—The National Moving Picture Theater, at the corner of Santa Fe avenue and Ash street, owned by Thacher Bros., was badly damaged by fire.” If the 1911 map doesn’t show any other theaters at that intersection, it might be that the Air Dome was a cheap replacement for the lost National.
The only theater listed at Salina in the 1898 Cahn guide is the Salina Opera House, an upstairs auditorium seating 800. News of the New Theatre’s impending demise appeared in the August 8, 1925 issue of Exhibitor’s Daily Review, which said that the New Theatre, one of the oldest buildings in Salina, would soon be replaced by a seven-story hotel. Apparently the hotel project fell through and the office block was built instead.
A May, 1914 Sanborn map of De Pere reveals a small moving picture theater about the middle of the 100 block of South Broadway. The Sanborn has the address of 647 for that lot, but the even-numbered side of the block shows some addresses in the 600 range and some in the 100 range. The town was apparently in the process of renumbering its lots, and hadn’t gotten to the theater’s lot yet. But directly across the street from the theater was a store with the number 118, so the theater was probably 119. The building was too small for 300 seats, but there was plenty of room for expansion.
As for the name, it might have been called the Majestic even than. De Pere was skipped by the 1914-1915 AMPD, but the July 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon has an item about the opening of a new theater at De Pere called the Dreamland and said that its manager, J. A. Speaker, was also the manager of the Majestic. So we have evidence that De Pere had a Majestic Theatre as early as 1910, and that the building at 119 S. Broadway was occupied by a movie theater as early as May, 1914. I’ll keep looking for confirmation, but I suspect it’s very likely the case that the Majestic was here by 1914 and probably even earlier.
While M. J. Walsh was the original owner of this theater, he was not the architect. According to the June 4, 1910 issue of The American Contractor, plans for M. J. Walsh’s new theater on Kensington Avenue near Allegheny had been completed by architect Peter Kuhn, and bids for construction were being received by the owner.
The August 19, 1916 issue of The American Contractor had a notice about a theater project, to be built at the southeast corner of Broadway and Carman Street. Carman Street was wiped out by the redevelopment of the site, but it must have been this theater, owned by the Broadway Realty Company. The original architects were the firm of Custer & Seltzer (Walter L. Custer and Charles William Seltzer.) The house probably opened in 1917, but I think we must be missing an aka, as neither a Broadway nor a Midway Theatre is listed in the 1926 or 1929 FDYs.
Here is the first paragraph from an article about the centennial of the Park Theatre. It was published in the April 7, 2022 issue of the Winchendon Courier: “JAFFREY, New Hampshire (April 4, 2022) On May 1, 1922, an Italian immigrant named Romolo Vanni opened a business in Jaffrey, New Hampshire that would make a profound and long-lasting impression on a little mill town. The business was a moving picture theatre. He called it The Park Theatre to memorialize its facing across Main Street to Jaffrey’s downtown park common. Immediately it was a hit with people queuing up around the block to see Hollywood silent movies and occasional traveling vaudeville shows. For over half a century, it provided entertainment for the Monadnock Region and north-central Massachusetts.”
The May 28, 1941 issue of The Exhibitor had this item “Romulo Vianno’s Park, East Jaffrey, N. H., last week opened after almost two months remodelling by Capitol Theatre Supply.”