Chief Theater

51 Main Avenue S,
Britt, IA 50423

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Additional Info

Functions: Museum

Previous Names: Princess Theater

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Chief Theater

Built as a Masonic Lodge building around 1900. The Princess Theater was opened on October 10, 1912. Listed in editions of Film Daily Yearbook in 1941 & 1943 as the 300 seat Princess Theater. On August 20, 1949 it was re-named Chief Theater with a seating capacity given as 310. The former Chief Theater is now the Hobo Museum.

Contributed by Ken McIntyre

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 10, 2007 at 5:01 pm

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/3xdpwt

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 20, 2008 at 10:46 pm

Here is a 2004 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/8pcfx4

SethG
SethG on January 18, 2024 at 9:24 pm

This theater is much older. It appears on the 1914 Sanborn. The building was built sometime around 1900 as a Masonic lodge, and they used the upstairs.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on May 22, 2024 at 3:57 pm

The Princess Theatre opened its doors on October 10, 1912 with a live presentation of “The City” (which previously had its long-run engagement in both New York and Chicago at the time), and was renamed the Chief Theatre on August 20, 1949.

  • The Chief Theatre name came very unexpectedly from local resident John K. Lorenz when he received a whole shoe box filled with letters during a free theater naming contest that was held between July 30 and August 6, 1949. Some other people submitted other names but was unlisted. At the time, the theater was operated by H.S. (Doc) Twedt.

The Chief Theatre closed as a movie house in the mid-1980s, and was then bought out by the Britt Chamber of Commerce following renovation in August 1988.

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