This building is specifically labeled as the ‘Pastime’ on the Sanborn, and it is the building that replaced the old Baird Opera House and which the ‘New Pastime’ moved into when it was constructed. That is where it has to start. How the Rivoli and Rex come in is a bit fuzzy.
How can we square that with the earlier information you found? I’m so confused. At any rate, if the address is right, this HAS to have been the Pastime. Maybe it never was the Rivoli?
Not sure why this is listed as showing movies. The theater appears to feature everything but movies.
The NRHP listing for the Park Square Historic District (boundary increase) has a 1990 picture of the theater before the removal of the addition to the front, which I guess dates from sometime between 1930 and 1940.
The October 1916 Sanborn only shows the Grand and Pastime. I went carefully through all 7 pages to make sure. Of course, they might have come and gone by then.
If we end up keeping the listing, I will add a photo. The building was abandoned in 2001 after the death of the owner of Kline’s Amusement, which had been there since the ‘70s. It was demolished sometime after June 2013. It looks like the foundation is being used as a parking lot.
To add to the confusion, a newspaper article about the need to demolish the property refers to the building as the old Rex theater. I can’t link to the article, because of the idiotic spam filter.
The only possibility for this to really be the Rex is that shortly after 1916, yet ANOTHER Pastime was constructed on Gillespie, then closed for a while, then reopened under a new name in 1931.
Based on my research this listing should be combined with the Rex. It was renamed Rex in 1931, according to Joe’s comment on that listing. Possibly later renamed the Rivoli? Listing should be rewritten.
Something is wrong here. The 1911 and 1916 Sanborns show only a small wooden house on the supposed site of the Rex. The Pastime was on Main in 1916. There was a wooden theater building on the site that later became the Pastime on the 1911 map. I don’t think the building on Gillespie was ever the Pastime, and was therefore likely not the Rex.
I think this listing should be deleted. The building on Gillespie did vaguely resemble a theater, but had a large old garage door in the center, with entries on either side. It was probably built around 1920 as a dealership or garage.
If the Rivoli was at 731 Main, it was originally the Pastime. The listing for the Rex needs to be corrected. The 1916 Sanborn shows the Pastime as a large building of mixed construction. The front section was wooden, 1 ½ stories tall, containing a barber shop in a small storefront on the north side. The auditorium was brick. Both the stage and balcony appear flat and shallow on the map. The location is now a parking lot and part of a boxy ‘modern’ fire station.
I’m not sure if the church is still going. Building was for sale and locked up, but it was a Saturday while we were there, so they may continue as a tenant.
In the 2009 streetview, it looks like this is being used as a bowling alley, which is still listed as open. Sadly, the marquee is gone and the corner entry is boarded over.
Address is 728 Main St (which was called 12th long ago). The ornamentation and top of the roofline have been crudely hacked off, along with the balcony. A blah plywood storefront fills the entrance, and the building is now a bar.
As must be obvious from the pictures, the building is yellow brick (with limestone sills/accents), and the marquee is one story tall. The sides are cheaper rough red brick. The original windows have now been replaced by unsympathetic modern ones. Was not running a movie last weekend, but promised Toy Story 4 the next two weekends. Seems to also be used as a community arts theater, according to their FB page.
I added a picture from 2012. You can see that Joe is correct. The entire back half and front façade are new, but the front half of the side wall contains numerous older style arched windows, which have been filled in. The vitrolite front is still in great shape, and it seems likely that the marquee is still there, under some cheap vinyl siding.
Not sure when exactly it started showing movies, but it was between 1908 and 1917. Sanborn maps show there was a pool room and bowling alley in the basement. The theater is listed as being on the first floor with the Masons and Odd Fellows meeting on the second. The balcony at this point was a deep horseshoe shape, not the small flat-fronted affair, which must date from some long ago remodel.
Map marker is way too far east. This must have been within one block either side of the courthouse. There are no theaters at all on the 1913 map, but Main was then called Cedar, which may help if an old address turns up.
Either the address or description are wrong. Washington St is the E-W divider, so this would have been 4 blocks off the square. Google coverage of town is uselessly bad, so I can’t find a possible location.
Another confusing listing full of errors. There is no Liberty St, and never has been. The odd side of Water would have been on the east side, not the west. May have been at the corner of S Water and E Mill? In any case the entire block was long ago eaten by an ugly monstrosity of city/county offices. The most ‘recent’ Sanborn is from 1913, and only shows houses along that part of the street. On the map there is a large 2 story block under construction along E Kansas, which seems to have the numbers 101-105 assigned to its western face. The next down is a house at 115.
Clearly opened earlier. The theater is on the 1920 Sanborn, when Bridge St was also known as Water. For some stupid reason, I took a picture of the building next door, but not this one. It is currently an antique store.
It’s odd that such a large old theater has next to no history in its listing. B&B certainly came up with the dullest possible name. Their claims in 2010 that the building was over 100 years old are false. The 1910 Sanborn shows the lot occupied by a huge oval wooden dance hall/skating rink, which also occupied the space which is currently a furniture store next door to the theater. A construction date around 1915-20 looks likely based on the architecture.
Also unusual is that the building does not appear on the 1909 Sanborn. On the 1922 map, it is listed as an ‘Opera House’, with a capacity of 300. Post-1910 construction of an opera house is very strange. In 1922, the ground floor tenants were a bowling alley and a saloon. Up until at least 1922, Main was Schiller, and the theater was on the corner with Boggs (now S 8th, with a N 8th on the other side of I-70). Not sure when they decided to be as boring as possible with the street names.
SethG
commented about
Theatreon
May 8, 2019 at 5:31 pm
I’ve added a photo. I’m convinced that the NRHP listing is wrong, and we should not list this as demolished. Note the old-fashioned brickwork in the alley (especially the ‘column’), and the fact that almost the entire top of the Farmers Trust ghost ad is missing. It’s clear that the roofline was lowered, and the façade updated.
This building is specifically labeled as the ‘Pastime’ on the Sanborn, and it is the building that replaced the old Baird Opera House and which the ‘New Pastime’ moved into when it was constructed. That is where it has to start. How the Rivoli and Rex come in is a bit fuzzy.
How can we square that with the earlier information you found? I’m so confused. At any rate, if the address is right, this HAS to have been the Pastime. Maybe it never was the Rivoli?
Not sure why this is listed as showing movies. The theater appears to feature everything but movies.
The NRHP listing for the Park Square Historic District (boundary increase) has a 1990 picture of the theater before the removal of the addition to the front, which I guess dates from sometime between 1930 and 1940.
The October 1916 Sanborn only shows the Grand and Pastime. I went carefully through all 7 pages to make sure. Of course, they might have come and gone by then.
I already posted the Grand, which was at 6-something Main.
If we end up keeping the listing, I will add a photo. The building was abandoned in 2001 after the death of the owner of Kline’s Amusement, which had been there since the ‘70s. It was demolished sometime after June 2013. It looks like the foundation is being used as a parking lot.
To add to the confusion, a newspaper article about the need to demolish the property refers to the building as the old Rex theater. I can’t link to the article, because of the idiotic spam filter.
The only possibility for this to really be the Rex is that shortly after 1916, yet ANOTHER Pastime was constructed on Gillespie, then closed for a while, then reopened under a new name in 1931.
Based on my research this listing should be combined with the Rex. It was renamed Rex in 1931, according to Joe’s comment on that listing. Possibly later renamed the Rivoli? Listing should be rewritten.
Something is wrong here. The 1911 and 1916 Sanborns show only a small wooden house on the supposed site of the Rex. The Pastime was on Main in 1916. There was a wooden theater building on the site that later became the Pastime on the 1911 map. I don’t think the building on Gillespie was ever the Pastime, and was therefore likely not the Rex.
I think this listing should be deleted. The building on Gillespie did vaguely resemble a theater, but had a large old garage door in the center, with entries on either side. It was probably built around 1920 as a dealership or garage.
If the Rivoli was at 731 Main, it was originally the Pastime. The listing for the Rex needs to be corrected. The 1916 Sanborn shows the Pastime as a large building of mixed construction. The front section was wooden, 1 ½ stories tall, containing a barber shop in a small storefront on the north side. The auditorium was brick. Both the stage and balcony appear flat and shallow on the map. The location is now a parking lot and part of a boxy ‘modern’ fire station.
I’m not sure if the church is still going. Building was for sale and locked up, but it was a Saturday while we were there, so they may continue as a tenant.
In the 2009 streetview, it looks like this is being used as a bowling alley, which is still listed as open. Sadly, the marquee is gone and the corner entry is boarded over.
Address is 728 Main St (which was called 12th long ago). The ornamentation and top of the roofline have been crudely hacked off, along with the balcony. A blah plywood storefront fills the entrance, and the building is now a bar.
As must be obvious from the pictures, the building is yellow brick (with limestone sills/accents), and the marquee is one story tall. The sides are cheaper rough red brick. The original windows have now been replaced by unsympathetic modern ones. Was not running a movie last weekend, but promised Toy Story 4 the next two weekends. Seems to also be used as a community arts theater, according to their FB page.
I added a picture from 2012. You can see that Joe is correct. The entire back half and front façade are new, but the front half of the side wall contains numerous older style arched windows, which have been filled in. The vitrolite front is still in great shape, and it seems likely that the marquee is still there, under some cheap vinyl siding.
Not sure when exactly it started showing movies, but it was between 1908 and 1917. Sanborn maps show there was a pool room and bowling alley in the basement. The theater is listed as being on the first floor with the Masons and Odd Fellows meeting on the second. The balcony at this point was a deep horseshoe shape, not the small flat-fronted affair, which must date from some long ago remodel.
Map marker is way too far east. This must have been within one block either side of the courthouse. There are no theaters at all on the 1913 map, but Main was then called Cedar, which may help if an old address turns up.
Either the address or description are wrong. Washington St is the E-W divider, so this would have been 4 blocks off the square. Google coverage of town is uselessly bad, so I can’t find a possible location.
Map marker is way too far out of downtown.
Another confusing listing full of errors. There is no Liberty St, and never has been. The odd side of Water would have been on the east side, not the west. May have been at the corner of S Water and E Mill? In any case the entire block was long ago eaten by an ugly monstrosity of city/county offices. The most ‘recent’ Sanborn is from 1913, and only shows houses along that part of the street. On the map there is a large 2 story block under construction along E Kansas, which seems to have the numbers 101-105 assigned to its western face. The next down is a house at 115.
According to the NRHP listing for downtown, this was built about 1910 as the State. Correct address is 117.
Clearly opened earlier. The theater is on the 1920 Sanborn, when Bridge St was also known as Water. For some stupid reason, I took a picture of the building next door, but not this one. It is currently an antique store.
It’s odd that such a large old theater has next to no history in its listing. B&B certainly came up with the dullest possible name. Their claims in 2010 that the building was over 100 years old are false. The 1910 Sanborn shows the lot occupied by a huge oval wooden dance hall/skating rink, which also occupied the space which is currently a furniture store next door to the theater. A construction date around 1915-20 looks likely based on the architecture.
Also unusual is that the building does not appear on the 1909 Sanborn. On the 1922 map, it is listed as an ‘Opera House’, with a capacity of 300. Post-1910 construction of an opera house is very strange. In 1922, the ground floor tenants were a bowling alley and a saloon. Up until at least 1922, Main was Schiller, and the theater was on the corner with Boggs (now S 8th, with a N 8th on the other side of I-70). Not sure when they decided to be as boring as possible with the street names.
I’ve added a photo. I’m convinced that the NRHP listing is wrong, and we should not list this as demolished. Note the old-fashioned brickwork in the alley (especially the ‘column’), and the fact that almost the entire top of the Farmers Trust ghost ad is missing. It’s clear that the roofline was lowered, and the façade updated.