The building seems to have been constructed before 1883. The 1901 map shows a saloon here, but the Dec. 1910 Sanborn shows ‘Moving Pictures’ here. The current dumpy facade likely dates from just after the closure of this theater in 1954 (as the Madrid). It’s now a podiatrist’s office.
The description needs to be updated. It describes the cheesy fake entrance stuck on the back of the building as if it were the front. It’s been removed as well.
The Unique name never belonged to this building. It belonged to an airdome on this site through at least the Fall of 1905. The Peoples name definitely also belonged to the airdome, but possibly also to the permanent building.
The address is wrong. Should be 524-526. The building was looking very seedy in the 2000s, but has been renovated, probably closer to its historic appearance. It is used as an event space.
I’m going to correct myself a bit. It appears this section of the building existed prior to 1884. It seems to have been remodeled at some point to match the Miller Building, but there are some differences, mainly in the windows and structural ironwork.
The ugly remodels have been removed, although this portion of the building no longer has an entry. It is used as offices.
The building seems to have been originally called the Miller Building, and was constructed sometime between 1897 and 1901. This was the eastern end of the structure. The 1912 map shows this space as vacant, so the theater may have opened earlier, unless of course a business or two came and went prior to 1926.
The portion of the building on the left of the photo was a candy store, and disappeared sometime between 1933 and 1947. Not sure what happened, but it was a vacant lot for some time. The building currently has a tile block storefront with a very strange marquee which may date from the renaming to Dallas, or might have been put up for whatever store took over the place. The building now uses a 1300 address.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
May 10, 2024 at 8:53 am
Although you can see that the side wall had cracked by 1917.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
May 9, 2024 at 9:42 pm
Is it possible the Florence moved to the old opera house? That would make sense of the floor collapse in 1930. I suppose this building might have had some sort of basement into which a floor could collapse, but you’re right that the capacity seems impossible here.
Thanks for confirming the opera house. I’ll list that.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
May 9, 2024 at 9:29 pm
This may have been the Florence, or at least the first one. An opening around 1915 makes sense. Going by old postcards, this seems to have been a bank (or something with a clock sign) by about 1940.
This still looked like an old theater in 2009, but has been absolutely butchered, and now sports a trashy sheet metal facade. It’s a phone/cable TV store.
I’m not quite sure what the post above refers to when discussing the location, but the opera house was located about where the Century Link telephone building is today. It appears through 1915 as a large wooden building, not terribly tall, but quite wide.
The address is wrong, and this has been demolished. It was never a True Value. The distinctive Odd Fellows building makes it easy to place. It was at 103 E Main. Judging from the dumpy little building on the corner today, this was probably demolished by the early ‘80s. The building in the photo seems to have replaced a general store on the 1917 map.
There’s far too much speculation here. There definitely was never anything on Jackson. It’s all residential except the water tower. All businesses were on Main, except for a few on Douglas, and some industrial stuff up by the railroad.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
May 2, 2024 at 7:16 am
One of the other theaters may have been an old wooden GAR hall/Opera House located to the rear of this building, facing 2nd St. Still there in 1917, but long ago demolished. It would have extended under some of the gray metal building on Hemlock.
We need to change the photo to one of the building.
The building seems to have been constructed before 1883. The 1901 map shows a saloon here, but the Dec. 1910 Sanborn shows ‘Moving Pictures’ here. The current dumpy facade likely dates from just after the closure of this theater in 1954 (as the Madrid). It’s now a podiatrist’s office.
The description needs to be updated. It describes the cheesy fake entrance stuck on the back of the building as if it were the front. It’s been removed as well.
The stupid trashy ‘mall’ has been ripped out, and the theater is looking a lot better. The front seems to be the front again, so to speak.
I’ve added a listing for the Unique. The zip code should be 66048. Everything on that block uses it, and 66043 belongs to Lansing.
The Unique name never belonged to this building. It belonged to an airdome on this site through at least the Fall of 1905. The Peoples name definitely also belonged to the airdome, but possibly also to the permanent building.
It looks like this theater was a remodel of a livery stable built between 1889 and 1897.
The address is wrong. Should be 524-526. The building was looking very seedy in the 2000s, but has been renovated, probably closer to its historic appearance. It is used as an event space.
I’ve added a 1913 Sanborn image. This needs to be listed as demolished. The site is a parking lot.
Could be. I suppose you could have stuck a roof over that outside space.
I’m going to correct myself a bit. It appears this section of the building existed prior to 1884. It seems to have been remodeled at some point to match the Miller Building, but there are some differences, mainly in the windows and structural ironwork.
The ugly remodels have been removed, although this portion of the building no longer has an entry. It is used as offices.
The building seems to have been originally called the Miller Building, and was constructed sometime between 1897 and 1901. This was the eastern end of the structure. The 1912 map shows this space as vacant, so the theater may have opened earlier, unless of course a business or two came and went prior to 1926.
That didn’t last long!
The portion of the building on the left of the photo was a candy store, and disappeared sometime between 1933 and 1947. Not sure what happened, but it was a vacant lot for some time. The building currently has a tile block storefront with a very strange marquee which may date from the renaming to Dallas, or might have been put up for whatever store took over the place. The building now uses a 1300 address.
Although you can see that the side wall had cracked by 1917.
Is it possible the Florence moved to the old opera house? That would make sense of the floor collapse in 1930. I suppose this building might have had some sort of basement into which a floor could collapse, but you’re right that the capacity seems impossible here.
Thanks for confirming the opera house. I’ll list that.
This may have been the Florence, or at least the first one. An opening around 1915 makes sense. Going by old postcards, this seems to have been a bank (or something with a clock sign) by about 1940.
I’m not sure where the oldest Princess was. Neither the 1909 nor the March 1915 Sanborns identify anything as a theater, except the Opera House.
This still looked like an old theater in 2009, but has been absolutely butchered, and now sports a trashy sheet metal facade. It’s a phone/cable TV store.
I’m not quite sure what the post above refers to when discussing the location, but the opera house was located about where the Century Link telephone building is today. It appears through 1915 as a large wooden building, not terribly tall, but quite wide.
Looks like a ‘34 DeSoto Airflow on the left, so this can’t have been any earlier than that.
The address is wrong, and this has been demolished. It was never a True Value. The distinctive Odd Fellows building makes it easy to place. It was at 103 E Main. Judging from the dumpy little building on the corner today, this was probably demolished by the early ‘80s. The building in the photo seems to have replaced a general store on the 1917 map.
There’s far too much speculation here. There definitely was never anything on Jackson. It’s all residential except the water tower. All businesses were on Main, except for a few on Douglas, and some industrial stuff up by the railroad.
One of the other theaters may have been an old wooden GAR hall/Opera House located to the rear of this building, facing 2nd St. Still there in 1917, but long ago demolished. It would have extended under some of the gray metal building on Hemlock.