Kansan Theatre
408 N. 7th Street,
Fredonia,
KS
66736
408 N. 7th Street,
Fredonia,
KS
66736
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The Kansan Theatre was opened around 1941. On July 25, 1953, BoxOffice reported that Francis L. Edwards, manager of the Kansan Theatre in Fredonia, “was in Parsons two weeks where he managed the Parsons Theatre and Kansan Theatre while Mr. and Mrs. Paul Brown were on a vacation.”
The May 1, 1955 issue of Fire Engineering mentioned a minor grass fire behind “the Klassy Kleaners and the Kansan Theatre” in Fredonia. The Kansan Theatre was still open in 1960.
Contributed by
Michael Kilgore
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From BoxOffice, Jan. 11, 1960: Harley Fryer of Lamar (MO?) “has acquired the Kansas Theatre and the Fredonia Drive-In in the Wilson County seat in the southeast part of the state from A. W. Pugh and the new management will be effective Thursday (17). Fryer’s brother Richard will manage the Fredonia operation”.
The history is incomplete. There was a theater at 406 by June 1912. The building was a two story brick structure, and was constructed sometime after 1905.
The history is rather complicated, and the 1923 and 1942 Sanborns are not online. It’s entirely possible this theater closed for some time at least once. Below is what I have put together.
Fredonia does not appear in the 1914-15 AMPD, but the 1926 Yearbook lists an Orpheum (no capacity, perhaps closed?). The 1940 Yearbook lists a Klock with 350, a New People’s (closed) with 350, and a Whiteway at 300 (this theater is listed at least as far back as 1933, when the Orpheum is listed as closed). It’s possible this last became the Kansan, since the 1941 Yearbook lists the Kansan (300), and 4-H (350, closed).
The 1945 Yearbook still lists the Kansan with 300 seats, and a Strand with 350. The 1952 Yearbook lists 462. The building must have been extensively remodeled at some point.
In 1947, the the Kansan and 4-H were operated by H.J. Griffith Theaters, Inc., based in Kansas City, MO. In 1948 the Kansan and Strand were operated by Theater Enterprises, Inc., based in Dallas.
Whatever the actual history, this theater was demolished many years ago, and replaced with a crummy prefab shed which houses the local paper.