Marquee Performing Arts Center
1007 Main Street,
Winfield,
KS
67156
1007 Main Street,
Winfield,
KS
67156
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A press release from early 2022 says that part of the Fox Theatre’s site was occupied by an old movie house called the Zimm Theatre, which was demolished along with an adjacent building to make way for the Fox in 1950. The Zimm was owned by an Oscar Zimmerman by early 1921, but the address 1007 Main Street was listed as the location of the Jewel Theatre in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
Looks pretty sketchy as of 2022.
It is now being converted into performing arts center.
Addendum: As Boxoffice ran a photo of the theater in 1950 (second photo at the top of this page) I’m not sure if the AIA Directory got the year wrong, or if Bihr’s project was only for some sort of alteration to the theater. He was apparently a contract architect for Fox Midwest for a number of years, handling many projects both large and small.
The entry for architect Samuel W. Bihr, Jr. in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Fox Theatre at Winfield, Kansas, among his works. It gives the year of the Fox project as 1952.
The Fox was last operated as the Winfield Cinema I $ II, as seen in this 1985 photo. The Cinema Treasures page for the Regent Theatre, aka Winfield Opera House, is currently mistakenly listed as the Winfield Cinema.
Boxoffice included the Fox in Winfield on its list of theaters opened in 1950. I’m not sure if a theater had previously operated in this building under another name, or if the structure was new or was converted from some other use.
From August 2010 a this photo seems to indicate that the Fox Theatre building may not have been demolished. And that butt ugly false facade my be hiding most of a classic theater building.
Unsure when it was torn down, but an appliance store is there now. Was Sears at one time. Building that is there now definitely does not match the rest of the block.
Here is a photo. Click on the theater for a closeup:
http://tinyurl.com/ku2g7