Morton Theatre

The Morton Theatre was placed in the Yentes Motor Sales building’s spot and erected by the Mathis Lumber Company in the Spring and Summer of 1937. The theatre opened on August 5, 1938 with Janet Gaynor in “A Star is Born” for Phil C. Hauter and Clarence F. Gury. Times were challenging as the theatre not only hosted “Bank Night” offering a a cash prize but “Job Night” trying to match employers to prospective employees. One of the biggest moments for Hauter was booking “Gone with the Wind” on May 30, 1940. E.F. Pope of Minonk took on the Morton Theatre on March 23, 1944 for a year.

The Morton was purchased and run the longest by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred B. & Marjorie Carious. They took it on on a 15-year lease operating it from 1945 to closure. They are likely better known for the seasonally-operated Dairy Queen and A&W Drive-In which they ran until 1975. In July In 1955, they transitioned the Morton Theatre to widescreen projection to present CinemaScope films. Despite “scope,” the television age had already killed small-town movie theaters everywhere. The Cariouses closed temporarily in 1959 and reopened for its final stretch to April 23, 1960.

One of the last bookings was “The Miracle” which they listed on the marquee along with the opening of the Dairy Queen on April 14, 1960 - likely indicating a hard winter season and springtime relief. The Cariouses shuttered permanently with “The Wreck of the Mary Deare” with a few patrons showing up (picture from closing day, April 23, 1960 in photos). In July of 1960, building owner Oscar Mathis removed the theatre seating, the marquee, and leveled the floor for retail use purposes. The local newspaper surmised that the town might not get another movie theater but that changed when the Jerry Lewis Cinema opened in the early 1970s - a theatre that morphed into a more modern complex and still was operational in the 2020s.