Hamilton Community Arts Theatre
E. Penny Drive,
Hamilton,
MO
64644
E. Penny Drive,
Hamilton,
MO
64644
1 person
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Additional Info
Functions: Live Theater
Previous Names: Till Theatre, Civic Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
816.583.2635
Nearby Theaters
The Artilla Theater was destroyed in a fire on February 5, 1949 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). Some local newspapers at the time announced owner Harry T. Till’s intention to rebuild the theatre. It was built and opened as the Till Theatre on June 2, 1949. It was closed on April 22, 1961. It reopened on September 7, 1961 as the Civic Theatre with Elvis Presley in “G.I. Blues”. It was closed in the early-1970’s. After several years closure, it reopened as a community theatre.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The theater was rebuilt by Mr. Till. I spent many Saturday nights there during the 1960’s and early 1970’s when the re-built theater was known as the Civic. Don’t know who owned/managed the theater during this time (I think there were several owners/managers), but I do recall a Mrs. Trosper sold tickets for a time. She was a really sweet lady. The Civic eventually closed for good in the early 1970’s and sat vacant for several years. The community eventually bought the building, fixed it up, added on to the building and now uses it as a community theater. Hamilton is a nice place and the birthplace & boyhood home of J.C. Penney.
Thanks for the info. I thought this address of Er Penny Drive was a typo, but some other sites have it as well.
http://tinyurl.com/dlb3df
I didn’t have any confirmation that the theater was rebuilt after the fire. Apparently it was.
My information was taken from some local papers on newspaperarchives.com. There were two or three stories around the date of the fire, with the same information reported in each one.
This theater did burn and should probably be listed as closed/destroyed. I have always heard this theater referred to as the Till and have never heard it called the Artilla. It was replaced by a cinder block & brick building that may have been originally called the Till, but I only knew it as Civic. It is located on what is now call Penney Dr. J.C. Penney’s boyhood home sits across the street from the theater where the train depot used to stand. I’ve been told that the Artilla/Till was a reverse theater. When you entered the auditorium you were at the screen with the seats facing you. Considering the lay of the lot that makes sense. I would appreciate the link to the newspapers articles Ken Mc refers to.
Maybe open again as some sort of live theater/event space? Building recently painted, and the lobby looks to be in pretty good shape. Inside the blah modern doors are a set of older doors which have an ‘H’ monogram. Not sure what the ‘H’ could have stood for. Maybe the ‘H’ in H.T.?
I think we should probably split the listings if we can confirm the name history. If the current building was never anything but the Civic, then it shouldn’t be listed as the Till/Artilla. Of course, it depends what exactly is meant by ‘destroyed’. It’s possible the original building was only gutted.
Street name is NOT East Penney, it’s ER Penney. That should help with mapping. The original name of the street was W McGaughy St.
The Artilla Theatre was just north of the depot and its name fused the names of its owners including Mr. and Mrs. Harry Till. The Artilla namesake is the sixth for the venue but on February 5, 1949, it’s all over as the Artilla Theatre.
The new Till Theatre would be built to replace it. It was a new-build venue costing $50,000 and opening here on June 2, 1949. On February 5, 1955, the venue is equipped for widescreen to present CInemaScope titles. Mr. Till dies and R.L. Adkins and Larry Allen operate the theater until its closure on April 22, 1961. A group of local business owners decide to cooperatively operate the venue because they appreciated the foot traffic of the theater. They rename it as the Civic Theatre September 7, 1961 rebooting with “G.I. Blues” with Elvis Presley.