Bijou Theatre
1722-1726 Main Street,
Marinette,
WI
54143
1722-1726 Main Street,
Marinette,
WI
54143
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Ascher Brothers Inc.
Functions: Office Space, Retail
Styles: Neo-Classical
Nearby Theaters
Marinette’s Bijou Theatre was built in 1905 for businessman Frank Lauerman as a combination general store and vaudeville house which sat just over 380. Within a few years, Lauerman began showing movies, replacing vaudeville acts, but the tiny venue was no match for larger theaters being constructed in Marinette.
By 1920, there were no less than eight movie theaters in operation in the twin cities of Marinette and Menominee, Michigan, and the Bijou Theatre closed down in 1924. It was converted into offices and retail space, which it amazingly still serves as today.
Also, the well-preserved Neo-Classical style Bijou Building, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, is the only survivor of the handful of movie houses which put it out of business as theater.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
History & phot at this link – click to expand photo:
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A 1916 ad for the Chicago-based Ascher Brothers theater circuit listed the Bijou Theatre and the Marinette Opera House in Marinette among their operations. The ad boasted that Ascher Brothers' theaters were “The Aristocrats of Photoplay Palaces.”