Amus-U Theater
108 W. Main Street,
La Harpe,
IL
61450
108 W. Main Street,
La Harpe,
IL
61450
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Princess Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Princess Theatre was opened in 1929. It was renamed Amus-U Theater in 1934, but was damaged by a fire in 1935 and was rebuilt. Amus-U Theater was owned by Ralph and Eva Todd, a mother-son partnership, in 1938. It was converted into a bowling alley in 1958 and the building was still there in 1998, but had been demolished by 2005.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
Laharpe also had a theatre called the Airdome in 1915.
If the Park opened in the Odd Fellows building, then this was never the Park. The Odd Fellows is on a different street.
Based on the information we have from the NRHP and Joe, and I, this opened as the Princess, and became the Amus-U. It’s completely separate from the Park. The 1926 map still shows this building as a store.
The new listings would be the Airdome (which does not appear on the March 1912 map), the Silver Cloud (complicated by the fact that there never was any such thing as Depot St), and the New Electric (if we can figure out what the Leavitt building was).
Airdome entry is now complete. It is described as being near or at 201 E. Main so we’ll call that good enough. The Frank Leavitt Building was on the North Side of the Square which became the Western Illinois Utility Company office (if that is helpful) after Hatcher left his Hatcher Photoplay Theatre on June 9, 1919. The Utility Company was on Depot Street / Old Depot Street only for three years before moving to 107 Main.
One correction above is that William Moon is credited with opening the Park Theatre on June 25, 1919 (not Hatcher as above). The Toledo, Peoria and Western Depot in La Harpe was the reason it had a Depot Street.
Okay, Looks like Depot was called Old Depot by 1893, was 5th St by 1898, and was 1st St by 1906. It was probably south of Main St, and has definitely been demolished. Everything on the 1906 map is the same on the 1912 map, so I’m not sure where it might have been. Best candidate might be a farm implement dealer which was on the west side, just south of the alley.
For the Airdome, obviously demolished, it was likely at 203, which on the 1912 map is a vacant lot between a garage/dealership on the corner (feed mill on the 1906 map) and a blacksmith. All buildings are the same between 1906 and 1912.
Perfect! Also, the Park Theatre moved from the Odd Fellows building in 1926 when the Towler Brothers' K&T Hatchery took a long-term lease of the Odd Fellows Building for their hatchery. Whoops. So the Park Theatre was only in the Odd Fellows Building until August of 1926. So I moved that long entry to the Locke’s Opera House.
Not quite sure where the Leavitt could have been. If you’re saying it was 107, that’s the south side of Main, and can’t have been on the square. 107 E Main is part of an old tin front that’s still just barely hanging on. If it was in the 100 block west, and it was not the building that later became the Amus-U, then it’s likely still there, but I can’t identify a good candidate from the maps. The NRHP listing is very old, and therefore done to a pretty poor standard. There’s very little history of buildings, and most are only identified by address.
107 Main is just what their newspaper listings say - the utility moved into the Leavitt Building.