I think the NRHP listing is wrong. They took the dates on the first map the theater appears on, and the last one, and assumed they had anything to do with opening or closing. It may have remained in operation into the ‘50s.
The theater remains in operation on the 1949 map. By this point, the marquee in the photo has been replaced by a ‘V’ shaped model. The theater is noted as being air conditioned on this map.
The building was rather oddly arranged. The auditorium was not nearly as wide as the front section. On what is the left in the photo, the front extended all the way to the alley, and the northern storefront had a section extending back perhaps 10'. The auditorium past that was much lower, and was set back perhaps 6' from the alley.
When the building was constructed, it replaced a very old church, which then relocated to a large new structure to the south of the theater, and has likewise been torn down.
I’m not entirely convinced that the old bottling plant is a remodel of the theater. The shape is different, although the height and width appear to be the same. The back section of the plant looks like it would have involved demolishing at least some of the rear of the theater, and definitely involved the removal of some other buildings on that lot. It would probably have been easier to demolish the older building.
The original Coliseum appears on the 1908 map, having replaced several small buildings serving as the Newcastle Buggy Works. It was a large brick building with a sloping wooden truss roof, shown as 1-2 stories. The SE corner of the building was cut off diagonally. I think the capacity is wrong, since the Grand Theater on the 1914 map has a huge balcony, roughly ‘C’ shaped, running all the way down the walls to the stage. By 1924, the building as an auto dealership appears to have a flat roof (at any rate it is now 2' shorter), but the footprint is identical. The roof is noted as a wooden truss on both the 1924 and 1949 maps, but the bottling plant definitely has a flat roof, so it can’t have been a holdover from the original Coliseum.
The theater appears on the 1914 Sanborn. In 1908, the space was a millinery and dry goods store. The building was one of the oldest on the block, being built sometime before 1886. It was your basic two-story brick commercial building. The 1949 map shows a small triangular marquee on the front. At least through 1924, the theater only occupied the ground floor. The 1949 map does not show a second floor occupant.
The 1908 Sanborn notes a ‘5ยข theatre’ in the basement. The theater is still there on the 1914 map, and the note puts it under 1500, which was then the westernmost of four storefronts.
Depending on when it opened, the Hiway was probably just south of the present 9397 S Congress St (Lee Hwy). The 1930 Sanborn shows a 2-story brick/tile theater in what is now the parking lot of the ugly bank at 9397. This lot was empty on the 1923 map. The building was a pretty good size, and there is a small rectangular awning or marquee shown on the front.
That’s a lot of information, most of which agrees. I understood it to mean that the opera house (which is the large building at Chester and Tonica) was called the Lyric by no later than 1913. The 1887 map has the opera house labelled as La Forge’s Hall, and all subsequent maps just call it an opera house. It is a very basic box of a building, but could date to 1875. It was certainly not unusual for opera houses to be renamed, just as with theaters.
As far as population goes, I would think that 1,800 might support two small theaters, at least in the early years of the craze.
So I might guess:
That the opera house was occasionally showing movies under perhaps the ‘Frank’ name, and then right around 1911 we have the Lyric operating in this smaller building.
The owner of the Lyric takes over the opera house lease, and moves to the larger venue, and takes the name with him at some point. The small theater is still in business in 1914, but the Lyric is now the opera house.
Perhaps the small theater closes, and then is reopened in 1917 with a new name.
Yes, it was called Tippecanoe City, but the post office made them change it because there is a tiny unincorporated town 200 miles away called Tippecanoe. The Sanborn map spells it Chaffe’s a few times (but also Chaffee’s), and the 1905-6 Cahn guide spelled it Chaffee’s.
This theater appears on the Sept. 1914 Sanborn, so the opening date is incorrect. ‘Liberty’ does make sense for a jingoistic wartime renaming, so 1917 could be relevant. The building was constructed sometime before 1887, and on the 1909 map, it’s a harness shop.
By the way, the article calls it Hunt’s theater with a small ’t', meaning just that he owned it. It also says that it was on E Main, which is obviously wrong if it was next to the Mayflower’s later location. It’s hard to tell if the front of the Mayflower building really is the heavily remodeled remains of the two very old structures it replaced. I would have assumed those were demolished.
The address is wrong, and this has not been demolished. The theater was at 7 E Main. The building is a two-story Second Empire style building with a limestone front. It was likely constructed in the 1870s, and appears on the 1887 Sanborn as a bank. It’s the 1st National Bank on the 1905 map, but is ‘Moving Pictures’ on the 1911 map. It is still in operation on what is supposedly the 1947 map. The front page of the map is the 1931 map, with additions in 1937 and 1942, but Ohio’s collection labels it as June 1947.
On the 1931 Sanborn, the auditorium has a note: ‘Steam Beams’. I assume this is a goof, and the surveyor intended to write ‘Steel’, but if it means something, I’d love to know.
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.
I think the NRHP listing is wrong. They took the dates on the first map the theater appears on, and the last one, and assumed they had anything to do with opening or closing. It may have remained in operation into the ‘50s.
The theater remains in operation on the 1949 map. By this point, the marquee in the photo has been replaced by a ‘V’ shaped model. The theater is noted as being air conditioned on this map.
The building was rather oddly arranged. The auditorium was not nearly as wide as the front section. On what is the left in the photo, the front extended all the way to the alley, and the northern storefront had a section extending back perhaps 10'. The auditorium past that was much lower, and was set back perhaps 6' from the alley.
When the building was constructed, it replaced a very old church, which then relocated to a large new structure to the south of the theater, and has likewise been torn down.
I added the website when I did the listing. This site has been very glitchy lately. I am also unable to add a photo.
I’m not entirely convinced that the old bottling plant is a remodel of the theater. The shape is different, although the height and width appear to be the same. The back section of the plant looks like it would have involved demolishing at least some of the rear of the theater, and definitely involved the removal of some other buildings on that lot. It would probably have been easier to demolish the older building.
The original Coliseum appears on the 1908 map, having replaced several small buildings serving as the Newcastle Buggy Works. It was a large brick building with a sloping wooden truss roof, shown as 1-2 stories. The SE corner of the building was cut off diagonally. I think the capacity is wrong, since the Grand Theater on the 1914 map has a huge balcony, roughly ‘C’ shaped, running all the way down the walls to the stage. By 1924, the building as an auto dealership appears to have a flat roof (at any rate it is now 2' shorter), but the footprint is identical. The roof is noted as a wooden truss on both the 1924 and 1949 maps, but the bottling plant definitely has a flat roof, so it can’t have been a holdover from the original Coliseum.
The theater appears on the 1914 Sanborn. In 1908, the space was a millinery and dry goods store. The building was one of the oldest on the block, being built sometime before 1886. It was your basic two-story brick commercial building. The 1949 map shows a small triangular marquee on the front. At least through 1924, the theater only occupied the ground floor. The 1949 map does not show a second floor occupant.
The 1908 Sanborn notes a ‘5ยข theatre’ in the basement. The theater is still there on the 1914 map, and the note puts it under 1500, which was then the westernmost of four storefronts.
By the way, at this point Congress St was called Main.
Depending on when it opened, the Hiway was probably just south of the present 9397 S Congress St (Lee Hwy). The 1930 Sanborn shows a 2-story brick/tile theater in what is now the parking lot of the ugly bank at 9397. This lot was empty on the 1923 map. The building was a pretty good size, and there is a small rectangular awning or marquee shown on the front.
Architects were Schenck & Williams. For some reason, I am unable to upload a photo of this.
I don’t know why, but I still cannot add a picture of either theater, although I did add one of something else successfully today.
That’s a lot of information, most of which agrees. I understood it to mean that the opera house (which is the large building at Chester and Tonica) was called the Lyric by no later than 1913. The 1887 map has the opera house labelled as La Forge’s Hall, and all subsequent maps just call it an opera house. It is a very basic box of a building, but could date to 1875. It was certainly not unusual for opera houses to be renamed, just as with theaters.
As far as population goes, I would think that 1,800 might support two small theaters, at least in the early years of the craze. So I might guess: That the opera house was occasionally showing movies under perhaps the ‘Frank’ name, and then right around 1911 we have the Lyric operating in this smaller building.
The owner of the Lyric takes over the opera house lease, and moves to the larger venue, and takes the name with him at some point. The small theater is still in business in 1914, but the Lyric is now the opera house.
Perhaps the small theater closes, and then is reopened in 1917 with a new name.
The ‘Auditorium’ is certainly the township building. Once the website is fixed, I’ll add a picture of this and the Auditorium.
I’m sure the map is more trustworthy. I’ll have to add the Lyric. Unless the maps specifically have them as showing movies, I don’t add opera houses.
Yes, it was called Tippecanoe City, but the post office made them change it because there is a tiny unincorporated town 200 miles away called Tippecanoe. The Sanborn map spells it Chaffe’s a few times (but also Chaffee’s), and the 1905-6 Cahn guide spelled it Chaffee’s.
This theater appears on the Sept. 1914 Sanborn, so the opening date is incorrect. ‘Liberty’ does make sense for a jingoistic wartime renaming, so 1917 could be relevant. The building was constructed sometime before 1887, and on the 1909 map, it’s a harness shop.
By the way, the article calls it Hunt’s theater with a small ’t', meaning just that he owned it. It also says that it was on E Main, which is obviously wrong if it was next to the Mayflower’s later location. It’s hard to tell if the front of the Mayflower building really is the heavily remodeled remains of the two very old structures it replaced. I would have assumed those were demolished.
The bank constructed a new building across the street in 1908 (which is also still there), so the theater could have opened any time after that.
The Gem and New must have fallen in the gap between the 1911 map and the 1923 one.
Building is currently a gourmet grocery.
The address is wrong, and this has not been demolished. The theater was at 7 E Main. The building is a two-story Second Empire style building with a limestone front. It was likely constructed in the 1870s, and appears on the 1887 Sanborn as a bank. It’s the 1st National Bank on the 1905 map, but is ‘Moving Pictures’ on the 1911 map. It is still in operation on what is supposedly the 1947 map. The front page of the map is the 1931 map, with additions in 1937 and 1942, but Ohio’s collection labels it as June 1947.
On the 1931 Sanborn, the auditorium has a note: ‘Steam Beams’. I assume this is a goof, and the surveyor intended to write ‘Steel’, but if it means something, I’d love to know.
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.