King Theatre
6115 King Hill Avenue,
St. Joseph,
MO
64504
6115 King Hill Avenue,
St. Joseph,
MO
64504
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Gala Opening of the Great Plains Grand Theater 6115 King Hill Ave opened on Sunday 7 April 1940 newspaper adds in St Joseph Gazzett the last day of the adds was Tuesday 23 April 1940 believed to be open for only 17 days.
Dallasmovietheaters im sorry to tell ya this was never the Valley Theater the address for the King Theater was 6115 King Hill this was 1st opened up as Great Plaines Grand only opened for 3 weeks before closing and the opening up as King. The Valley Theater was 6121 King Hill if you go to Valley Theater please read my comments. The King was listed as vacant for many years the 1968 City Directory was the last year it was listed in the City Directory. I believe the building was thorn down sometime in 1969.
The south side Valley Theatre operated on King Hill Avenue from the silent era and didn’t covert to sound closing in 1930. The Dubinsky Brothers relaunched a new Valley Theatre across the street at the this former factory location on May 19, 1934. The theater immediately made headlines for running low-cost shows with non-union projectionists. The theatre was then the subject of a monopoly suit in 1940 by the competing Rialto Theatre owners who alleged that the Valley Theatre was merely a loss leader aimed at driving their independent theater out of business.
The theatre was closed. A new independent operator took on the theatre calling it the Nickel-O-Dion Grand Theatre on July 1, 1940. A year later, prices increased to 10 cents and the truncated new name, the Grand Theatre. It closed at the end of July 1941 and reopened under new management on November 15, 1941 closing after just a month of operation. The following August, the theatre relaunched as the King Theatre on August 22, 1942 with the fine double-feature of “Jesse James” and “The Return of Jesse James.”
The King Theatre was closed on May 4, 1953 with a double feature of “White Savage” and “Last of the Buccaneers.” The Dickinson Theatre would only offer the theater building with a “non-compete” clause ending the theater’s operation.
BTW: It was never called the Great Plains Grand Theatre.
First newspaper adds appeared in both the St joe newspress and st joe gazette on August 27, 1942 which would make that the opening day for the king Theater
First opened up as the Great Plains Grand Theater on Sunday April 7, 1940 newspaper adds ran for 16 days until April 23, 1940 when it closed it remained vacant until it reopened as the King Theater its not for sure how long it remained vacant until opening of the king Theater
I grew up in St. Joseph and I remember the King Theater quite well. I remember spending many a Saturday afternoon, in the summer, in the coolness of the theater watching double features. The King Theater closed in the mid 50s and was never occupied by any business until it was demolished in the late 60S. The building in the picture is not the King Theater. The building pictured, currently Darcee’s School of Dance was originally Weiner' Department Store. To the south of Darcee’s is the intersection of East Hyde Park and King Hill which was the “main drag” providing access off Mason Road/East Hyde Park Streets to King Hill Avenue until road were made in the late 60s. The grassy area immediately to the left/north of Darcee’s is where the King Theater was located and north of the King was the Brown family home. The King Theater and Weiners’s Department Store/ Darcee’s did not share a common wall. There was a narrow space between the two building that collected a lot of trash and debris. In behind Darcee’s and the King Theater was a large, undeveloped hill which we used to play on. During hard rains mud would was from the hill into the street south of Darcee’s creating a slippery mess and a safety hazard. In the late 60s the highway department removed Weiners Hill, the King Theater and the brown family home to provide a direct access from Mason Road/East Hyde Park Streets to Alabama Street.
these people remember going to movies at this place
joe please go to facebook put in search box king theater go down where it has post by Terry Mcginnis click on comments section make sure you get them all several people tell what happened to king theater and it shows a picture of where it use to be one person said there was a small space between it and darcis school of dance
Joe I went to a Facebook site called St Joseph Mo Past, Present and Future asking anyone who remembers anything about the King Theater. So keep checking with site for added responses.
The wall on the north side of the building looks like it was once a common wall between two buildings. Part of the top at the back has been taken down, and in Google’s street view photo it looks like some exposed bricks have broken off of it. I think the building the King Theatre was in might have been a bit taller than the building the dance studio is in.
Joe you could be right but I talked to my dad who went to several movies at the King Theater. He told me it was torn down to complete the East side intersection of King Hill + Alabama, that it use to be a T type intersection and reduce the amount of traffic. If you see the road to the right of Darcis School of Dance that for a long time was the road for people to take to the East until the city made the east side portion of King Hill and Alabama intersection. The King was located to the North and left side right next to Darcis School of Dance.
All this makes me wish I never added this theatre.
As the building has three bays, it probably had three addresses assigned to it- it definitely had 6119 and 6121, and maybe 6117 or 6123 as well.
The University of Missouri has some old Sanborn fire insurance maps of St. Joseph online, but none of those that would show this block in detail have been digitized yet. It would be on map 237 of Volume 2 of the 1911 edition. Only the index map of that volume has been digitized and put online. The fact that they’ve digitized the index map suggests that they might get around to doing the rest of the volume eventually.
There is a possibility that this building did exist by 1911, even if the theater wasn’t located in it yet.
Joe I will check the 1920’s city directory next time I’M in St Joe to see if another business was at this address before it became the Valley Theater.
But like I said I have a 94 year old lady who is still a live telling me it was the Valley Theater.
St Joe has a lot of old buildings in this town.
Joe the Valley Theater is on the web site called St Joseph Mo Memory Lane. Next time I’M in St Joe Library ILL check the City Directory for that address in 1920’s city directory. But like I said the Darcis School of dance building first appeared in 1939 city directory and it was not listed in 1938 city directory or earlier
Tp: I’d be very surprised if the building the dance studio is in was built any later than 1920, and the style of the brickwork in the facade would have been way out of date by 1939. It’s the sort of commercial building I’d expect to have been built in the period from around 1900 to 1920.
I haven’t been able to find either the Valley Theatre or the King Theatre mentioned in any of the theater industry trade publications available online, but I think the Valley Theatre might have been a very early theater from the silent era. Most of the houses in the surrounding area look to have been built in the late 19th and early 20th century, so I’d imagine the neighborhood was built up enough to support a local movie theater by the early 1910s, and maybe even earlier.
The King Theater was actually listed in the 1941 City Directory the exact date unknown at this time
Joe now I know Darci’s School of dance building looks as if it could have been a Theater building during the time period of say the 1940,s or older. Now this is what my research on this building. About 1930 there was another Theater building called the Valley Theater I think last year was open 1935 the address was 6121 King Hill Ave the 1936,37,38 City Directory has it as being vacant and also during this time period the address for 6119 King Hill Ave was not even listed which current address of Darci’s School of Dance. Then in 1939 City Directory the address for 6119 was listed as Weiners Department Store there is a picture of it at St Joseph Mo Memory lane the first time for 6119 listing and also the address for the Valley Theater of 6121 King Hill Ave was no longer listed I have trying to find out if nthis was just a misprint in the City Directory at that time that no one has ever caught or if building was tore down and new building was built being 6119 King Hill Ave. Little over a year ago I stoped by there and ask Darci if she knew when the building was built and she didn’t know but she said her dad had the papers on the building and how old it was. But I have not talked to him as of yet. So if this building was built before 1939 then it was in deed the Valley Theater. Now I have talked with an Elderly lady that I have known since I was born who is actually 94 Yrs old she did tell me it was the Valley Theater but I actually have no other proof at this time and yes I do believe4 it was the Valley Theater
Joe I’m sorry to tell you this building was never the King Theater if you go to St Joseph Mo Memory lane you will see the address as being 6115 King Hill Ave, if you go to King Hill Ave section of same web site you will see that Darcis School of dance as being 6119 King Hill Ave. For years as little kid growing up in St Joseph Mo I actually thought the same thing that it was the King Theater. In August 1969 my family moved from Kansas City Mo to St Joseph Mo the King Theater building was not even there during that time. However my research has found out the King Theater was listed in 1969 St Joseph Mo City Directory AS BEING VACANT at downtown Library. The 1970 City Directory the address for the King Theater was no longer listed. What I found out over the years was that the building was torn down this had to of happen prior to August 1969 since it wasn’t there at that time. I have been looking at old newspaper during this time for any articles about it being torn down. The city did it to put in the intersection of King Hill + Alabama the East side of This intersection was where this Theater was located at.
Chris and Joe The Great Plains Grand Theater Grand Opening was on 7 April 1940 it was only open for 17 days. It holds the record in St Joseph Mo of having the shortest life span as movie house and possibly in the State of Mo
The FDY often had a lag of a year or two, sometimes more, in listing new theaters (or the closing of old ones,) especially if they were small town or neighborhood houses. Operating for only a few months, the Great Plains probably just wasn’t open long enough to get listed.
The Great Plains Grand Theatre was never listed in the Motion Picture Yearbook. It does show the King Theatre open in 1954. Closed in 1955.
The Theater page at St. Joseph Memory Lane says that the King Theatre had an earlier life as the Great Plains Theatre. It doesn’t give the opening date, but the first movies shown were Honeymoon in Bali and Scandal Sheet. Both were released in October, 1939, but the Great Plains was probably not a first-run house so it might have opened either in late 1939 or very early 1940. SJML says the Great Plains closed on April 23, 1940.
The site doesn’t give opening date or name the first movies shown as the King Theatre, but does say that the last show was on May 10, 1953.
The building the theater was in looks to date from a much earlier era than the late 1930s. The theater was most likely a conversion job.