Cornell Theatre

BoxOfficeBill on October 13, 2008 at 8:26 am

Thanks, Joe Vogel, for connecting the theater’s (and town’s) name to the founder of Cornell U. In these deep dark days when the Great “D” word looms on the financial horizon, it’s worth noting that—after amassing a fortune from supplying the telegraph industry with lumber for poles and using much of his income to establish the university in upstate NY—Ezra Cornell lost his fortune by investing in wacky initiatives and died nearly penniless.

Joe Vogel on December 15, 2007 at 4:28 pm

According to the City of Cornell website, “The theatre is closed until further notice”. Google’s “Showtimes for Cornell, WI” link currently brings up only the Micon Cinemas in Chippewa Falls. Maybe they close the Cornell down during the sort of weather they’re having tonight:

PARTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED FLURRIES AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWSAROUND 5 ABOVE. NORTH WINDS 5 MPH.

I certainly wouldn’t want to go out to a move on a night like that.

On the front page of the city’s website there’s a small historic photo of the main street, and most of the buildings look like they have had false fronts in the past, so the one on the theatre is not a rarity for the town. The white clapboard building behind the plastered front is typical of structures in old lumbering towns such as Cornell all the way from New England to the Pacific Northwest.

Incidentally, the town is named for Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, who had extensive holdings in the area.