Jewell Theatre

William Engelbart opened The Jewel, downtown Creston’s first and only movie theatre on August 2, 1919 in a converted retail space. He had a full house and apologized for four things: poor lighting (promised to get brighter lamp), poor viewing (promised to slope the floor in the near future), poor angle (promised to extend the auditorium by 20 feet), and poor print (he said that one wasn’t his fault - the reels of film received were in poor shape). He also didn’t list the title of the film shown on opening day correctly in the advertisement so not sure exactly what film was shown. Otherwise, the grand opening was success!

In 1923, the theatre was renamed as the Jewell Theatre under new ownership and appears to have become part of a circuit of small-town Jewell Theatres in Nebraska. The Jewell Circuit struggled as sound technology came into fashion. The Creston location closed in 1926 and was reopened by an independent operator, Mary Steiner with her son, Leo in August of 1927. However, the theatre closed not long after never having converted to sound.

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