State Theater
104 W. Pine Street,
Columbus,
KS
66725
104 W. Pine Street,
Columbus,
KS
66725
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The website shows a fairly spacious interior with a stage. Link
This listing needs to be rewritten to include the known history. The theater does not appear in the 1954 Yearbook, and is listed in 1957 with no capacity. It has been an event venue for some time. The capacity seems absurdly large, and the 1949 Yearbook lists it at 600. It is listed at 800 in 1952, and seems to have closed shortly thereafter. Unfortunately the 1953 Yearbook is useless, as it only lists drive-ins and circuits.
We purchased the State Theatre 4 years ago. The building was about to be condemned. We are in the process of renovating. The old roof caused water damage to the whole interior of the building and that was a major expense to put on a whole new roof. We own the building next to the old State Theatre where I own Classic Portraits Photography Studio. We have completely renovated the apartment above my studio where Art Pugh and his wife lived when he owned the State Theatre. It’s been fun to collect old newspaper articles about it’s history but we only have one photo of the exterior of the building. If anyone has any photos of the outside or inside of the building we would love to see them.
The State Theatre burned in June, 1947. It was rebuilt on the same site, plus the site of an adjacent bowling alley which had also been destroyed in the fire, and reopened on Christmas Day, 1947. The January 3, 1948, issue of Boxoffice reported that Robert Boller was the architect for the rebuilding project.
Boxoffice magazine reported in January 1946 that the State recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, so it would have opened in late 1939 or very early in 1940.