Theater is demolished. The address was 205. It was in a large 4-story brick building (sometimes shown as three stories due to a mansard roof), constructed sometime before 1887 as the Bassett House, a large hotel that contained numerous businesses in the lower floors. The 1905 map shows 205 shared by the entrance to the hotel, a small, oddly-shaped pool room, and a bar and laundry in the rear, which was one story.
The theater lasted until 1911 at least, when they have the entire space. By 1920, the theater space is vacant. The building was torn down in the ‘70s, and is now a dreary gravel parking lot.
The correct address for A theater was 316. It was in the northern half of the large brick building one removed from the square. The building dates to before 1887 (likely the early 1870s by the look of it). The 1905 map shows that section as dry goods, the 1911 map shows the theater, and the 1920 map shows it as a 5 & 10 cent store.
I am dubious of the ID. The window frames on the second story don’t match, the building has several small storefronts as opposed to two large ones, and the facade is either stone or plaster made to look like it. I think we have one theater’s address, and another’s name and photo.
The address for the Bijou was 120. The building was constructed sometime between 1898 and 1905, replacing various homes and businesses. The 1905 map shows the western half as two vacant storefronts.
The theater involved a substantial remodeling of that half of the building. As originally constructed, it was two stories until about halfway back from the street, when it was reduced to one story. After the remodel, the theater had a short and narrow entry between two much reduced storefronts, which in 1911 were a china shop and a news stand. The shape of the rear wall of the two-story section was modified, and the one story rear section had a large fly tower at the rear, and in front of this, an odd rectangular three story section over the middle of the auditorium.
The theater space is noted on the 1949 map, but appears to be vacant. At some later point, the building was badly butchered, and the top story removed. It appears that the rear of the theater was unaltered. Considering the ‘quality’ of the remodel, I doubt any of the theater entry was preserved.
The November 1920 Sanborn shows the Strand, with no mention of it being closed. The address seems to have been 108 E High, although the entrance may have been on the SW corner of the building, facing N Main. The theater replaced a wooden livery stable that appears on the 1911 map. The stage was curved inward in the center, and an outward curved balcony is noted.
It would be nice if someone could write up the history for this theater. Some of these really old listings have no information at all. I saw a movie here in 2015, and the marquee is pretty fantastic at night. The auditorium is actually very broad and shallow. I think the balcony was closed at that point.
The 1946 Sanborn (an update of the 1924 map) still shows this as Brown’s Theatre, and the marquee is shown as an old-fashioned rectangular awning. Not sure when the neon went up, or when the name changes happened.
Not sure of the significance, but the little stone up near the roof in the center of the facade names the building as the Deweese Block. He may have been the original owner, or perhaps just had the building constructed and leased the theater space.
As David pointed out a while ago, the film being shown in the photo is from 1927. The 1924 map shows the space as a store. Address should be on N Main, although it has mapped correctly.
Needs to be marked as demolished. The building can be seen on the horribly blurry 2009 streetview, but this magnificent structure was gone by 2015. It was built sometime before 1887 as the Taylor Block, and was home to the masonic lodge on the third floor, above storefronts and offices.
The theater building was constructed sometime before 1894 as a hardware and furniture store. Between 1907 and 1914, the western half became a theater. It’s possible that this operated until a 1937 remodel replaced the facade and expanded the theater into both sides of the building.
I just got rid of an old record set of hers that I bought for no good reason, not even having a record player.
But to the point, I suppose there might have been space in the entry of this building for those things, but it’s still very strange. The school must have been open, likely until the ‘70s or maybe later. I thought he might have had some arrangement with the school board, but actually modifying the structure?
If this really was in the high school auditorium, the address must be 608 C St. I’m a little dubious, because the auditorium was the newest building of the complex before the rest of it was demolished, and has sort of a WPA look to it. The ‘newest’ Sanborn map, from 1918, shows only a smaller old school nearer the corner of 6th and D. There was then no gym or auditorium. The older building was later cut down to one story, and is still visible on the satellite view and the 2013 streetview. As I said, today’s visit revealed that everything has been torn down but the auditorium, which is now in really awful shape. I’ll provide a picture, and maybe someone will have more definite information.
I think the address must have been 106. Downtown is totally trashed, and so many buildings are missing that it’s hard to count lots, but the 1918 Sanborn shows a one story tile brick structure with a tin cornice showing ‘moving pictures’. It would have been the fourth building south of C St, on the east side. That lot was partially occupied by a little wooden bandstand on the 1909 map. The location today is a gravel lot used as storage by a hardware store.
By the way, there’s a typo in the AKAs, ‘Sliver’ for Silver.
This will have to be marked as demolished. The spectacular bank building is nowhere to be seen. This must be the 600 block, east side, where the dumpy one-story thing is today. Address was likely 604 or thereabouts.
One of those names at least must be an AKA for the opera house. I didn’t see a third theater anywhere on the maps, and downtown really isn’t that large.
1914 Sanborn shows that the original building was a one-story structure, which appears to be slightly wider than the current building. It appears that the eastern wall may have slanted slightly outward toward the rear, as the building was then along the banks of the canal, which has been filled in in this area. The 1933 map shows a large rectangular awning/marquee. 2 internal hydrants supplied with 200' of 2" hose are noted as ‘attended’, but I guess they didn’t help.
The very blurry picture only shows a little annex on the side. The main building is just to the left of this, and has a rather bland fake old facade. 94 seems absurdly small, but appears to be correct from pictures of the auditorium. Looks like it closed around 1955, and reopened sometime after 1996 after various other uses.
Sorry, slight typo, it’s the 1925 map that shows it as a store. Not that it’s really important, but the garage door seems to have been added by 1937, when this space had become what must have been a really tiny dealership.
SethG
commented about
Town Hallon
Jul 24, 2020 at 3:27 pm
John Fryberger of the Toledo-based Spitzer and Co. was the architect for this structure.
Theater is demolished. The address was 205. It was in a large 4-story brick building (sometimes shown as three stories due to a mansard roof), constructed sometime before 1887 as the Bassett House, a large hotel that contained numerous businesses in the lower floors. The 1905 map shows 205 shared by the entrance to the hotel, a small, oddly-shaped pool room, and a bar and laundry in the rear, which was one story.
The theater lasted until 1911 at least, when they have the entire space. By 1920, the theater space is vacant. The building was torn down in the ‘70s, and is now a dreary gravel parking lot.
Someone needs to go back and tell them that ‘Then’ and ‘Than’ are not the same!
The correct address for A theater was 316. It was in the northern half of the large brick building one removed from the square. The building dates to before 1887 (likely the early 1870s by the look of it). The 1905 map shows that section as dry goods, the 1911 map shows the theater, and the 1920 map shows it as a 5 & 10 cent store.
I am dubious of the ID. The window frames on the second story don’t match, the building has several small storefronts as opposed to two large ones, and the facade is either stone or plaster made to look like it. I think we have one theater’s address, and another’s name and photo.
The address for the Bijou was 120. The building was constructed sometime between 1898 and 1905, replacing various homes and businesses. The 1905 map shows the western half as two vacant storefronts.
The theater involved a substantial remodeling of that half of the building. As originally constructed, it was two stories until about halfway back from the street, when it was reduced to one story. After the remodel, the theater had a short and narrow entry between two much reduced storefronts, which in 1911 were a china shop and a news stand. The shape of the rear wall of the two-story section was modified, and the one story rear section had a large fly tower at the rear, and in front of this, an odd rectangular three story section over the middle of the auditorium.
The theater space is noted on the 1949 map, but appears to be vacant. At some later point, the building was badly butchered, and the top story removed. It appears that the rear of the theater was unaltered. Considering the ‘quality’ of the remodel, I doubt any of the theater entry was preserved.
The November 1920 Sanborn shows the Strand, with no mention of it being closed. The address seems to have been 108 E High, although the entrance may have been on the SW corner of the building, facing N Main. The theater replaced a wooden livery stable that appears on the 1911 map. The stage was curved inward in the center, and an outward curved balcony is noted.
It would be nice if someone could write up the history for this theater. Some of these really old listings have no information at all. I saw a movie here in 2015, and the marquee is pretty fantastic at night. The auditorium is actually very broad and shallow. I think the balcony was closed at that point.
The 1946 Sanborn (an update of the 1924 map) still shows this as Brown’s Theatre, and the marquee is shown as an old-fashioned rectangular awning. Not sure when the neon went up, or when the name changes happened.
For research purposes, in 1907 the address was 717, there being no east/west division on any streets.
Theater would have been on the right.
For research purposes, in 1907 the address was 836-838, there being no north-south division on any of the streets.
Not sure of the significance, but the little stone up near the roof in the center of the facade names the building as the Deweese Block. He may have been the original owner, or perhaps just had the building constructed and leased the theater space.
As David pointed out a while ago, the film being shown in the photo is from 1927. The 1924 map shows the space as a store. Address should be on N Main, although it has mapped correctly.
Needs to be marked as demolished. The building can be seen on the horribly blurry 2009 streetview, but this magnificent structure was gone by 2015. It was built sometime before 1887 as the Taylor Block, and was home to the masonic lodge on the third floor, above storefronts and offices.
The 1946 update of the 1924 Sanborn still shows the name as Majestic, but this was likely just a failure to update the name.
The theater building was constructed sometime before 1894 as a hardware and furniture store. Between 1907 and 1914, the western half became a theater. It’s possible that this operated until a 1937 remodel replaced the facade and expanded the theater into both sides of the building.
I just got rid of an old record set of hers that I bought for no good reason, not even having a record player.
But to the point, I suppose there might have been space in the entry of this building for those things, but it’s still very strange. The school must have been open, likely until the ‘70s or maybe later. I thought he might have had some arrangement with the school board, but actually modifying the structure?
If this really was in the high school auditorium, the address must be 608 C St. I’m a little dubious, because the auditorium was the newest building of the complex before the rest of it was demolished, and has sort of a WPA look to it. The ‘newest’ Sanborn map, from 1918, shows only a smaller old school nearer the corner of 6th and D. There was then no gym or auditorium. The older building was later cut down to one story, and is still visible on the satellite view and the 2013 streetview. As I said, today’s visit revealed that everything has been torn down but the auditorium, which is now in really awful shape. I’ll provide a picture, and maybe someone will have more definite information.
I think the address must have been 106. Downtown is totally trashed, and so many buildings are missing that it’s hard to count lots, but the 1918 Sanborn shows a one story tile brick structure with a tin cornice showing ‘moving pictures’. It would have been the fourth building south of C St, on the east side. That lot was partially occupied by a little wooden bandstand on the 1909 map. The location today is a gravel lot used as storage by a hardware store.
By the way, there’s a typo in the AKAs, ‘Sliver’ for Silver.
These sort of contributions are useless.
This will have to be marked as demolished. The spectacular bank building is nowhere to be seen. This must be the 600 block, east side, where the dumpy one-story thing is today. Address was likely 604 or thereabouts.
One of those names at least must be an AKA for the opera house. I didn’t see a third theater anywhere on the maps, and downtown really isn’t that large.
1914 Sanborn shows that the original building was a one-story structure, which appears to be slightly wider than the current building. It appears that the eastern wall may have slanted slightly outward toward the rear, as the building was then along the banks of the canal, which has been filled in in this area. The 1933 map shows a large rectangular awning/marquee. 2 internal hydrants supplied with 200' of 2" hose are noted as ‘attended’, but I guess they didn’t help.
The very blurry picture only shows a little annex on the side. The main building is just to the left of this, and has a rather bland fake old facade. 94 seems absurdly small, but appears to be correct from pictures of the auditorium. Looks like it closed around 1955, and reopened sometime after 1996 after various other uses.
Sorry, slight typo, it’s the 1925 map that shows it as a store. Not that it’s really important, but the garage door seems to have been added by 1937, when this space had become what must have been a really tiny dealership.
John Fryberger of the Toledo-based Spitzer and Co. was the architect for this structure.
Added a shot of downtown in which the Star can just barely be seen.