Liberty Theatre
116 South Topeka Street,
Wichita,
KS
67202
116 South Topeka Street,
Wichita,
KS
67202
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 4 comments
As can be seen from the photo, the building was an old three story brick commercial building with bay windows. It was constructed in 1887, and was originally the Packers' Hotel, later the Topeka Avenue Hotel. A hotel operated here through at least 1950, but this building was lost at some point thereafter. The 1903 map shows that the conversion of the ground floor to the Pastime hadn’t taken place yet.
Considering this theater had a balcony, the capacity seems very small. We should change the photo to one actually of the theater, rather than a very blurry newspaper.
The address is wrong. It was 120-122.
This house had yet another name before becoming the Empress. The August 14, 1912, issue of the Wichita Daily Eagle said that the locally-controlled Peerless Entertainment Company had taken control of the Pastime Theatre and would convert it into a vaudeville house called the Empress after extensive rebuilding to add a balcony and enlarge the stage. The enlarged theater would present Sullivan & Considine vaudeville acts.
The December 29 issue of the same paper said that the new Empress Theatre would open the following day. The company operating it was now called the Interstate Amusement Company.
I’ve found the Pastime Theatre mentioned in the newspapers as early as 1910, but it might have been opened earlier.
The October 27, 1917 issue of the Wichita Beacon reported that “[t]he old Empress Theater, on South Topeka, now called the New Liberty Theater, will be reopened Saturday, November 3. The entire interior is being rebuilt.”
The December 8, 1917, issue of The Music Trade Review reported on the New Liberty Theatre, saying that it was on the corner of Topeka and Williams Street. Our Street View should be moved to the south end of the block, about where Google Maps' estimated address is 178 S. Topeka.
The latest mention I’ve found of the Liberty Theatre in the Wichita Daily Eagle is from October 5, 1919. It gives no indication that the theater was to be closed at that time, but as it is not mentioned in 1910 the house was most likely dismantled in late 1919.