Foss Theatre

100 E. 1st Street,
Julesburg, CO 80737

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 1, 2023 at 6:00 pm

An article first published in the Julesburg Advocate in 1997 says that the two-story building at 204-206 Main housed the opera house upstairs (the “Hall 2nd” notation on the Sanborn.) This does make me wonder if the current 100 E. First was not the historic 102 E. First. But that would leave the puzzle of the “Foss Theatre” building that was remodeled for apartments in 1917. That building on the corner would have been a very odd shape for a theater, being almost square.

SethG
SethG on May 1, 2023 at 10:19 am

It’s possible the theater did move, but the numbers are a bit inconsistent. The building to the east now has an address of 106, and the theater seems to be using 100 Cedar, which would have belonged to the bank on the corner (I think that the old theater space has been incorporated into the building on the corner.). The old fire station would have had a lot more room to run a theater in. The fire department would have likely moved out when the new power plant was built. The 1921 map says that it contained city hall and the fire department as well, but it’s not quite clear where they would have fit. At any rate, by 1921 ‘102’ is labeled ‘Dead Auto Storage’.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 1, 2023 at 1:12 am

Incidentally, the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection provides and extensive assortment of Julesburg’s early newspapers, and many issues have items about the early theaters (I found more using the search terms “picture show” than using the names of the theaters themselves.) Unfortunately, I’ve also found the site’s search feature to be sometimes rather cranky, though otherwise the site is quite well designed and very useful.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 1, 2023 at 1:04 am

The September 1, 1910 issue of the Julesburg Grit-Advocate ran this item:

“The moving picture show has been opened up again and is now known as the Foss theatre. Mr. Foss is giving the people the best pictures that can be secured. The pictures are clear and bright, and every move is distinct. The show is well worth the 10c price of admission.”
The December 29, 1910 issue of the paper noted changes of program at the house every night. The Foss was being supplied with movies through the Swanson Film Exchange in Denver.

Mr. Foss apparently gave up the theater less than two years later, as this item is found in the May 13, 1912 Dirt-Advocate:

“Messrs Stone and Harvey of Crawford, Nebraska have leased the building where the moving Picture show is located and will open the show under the name of ‘The Plezol’ on next Monday night. These gentlemen are very pleasant to meet and tell us that they are here to make the show a success and we believe they will do so. Mr. Harvey is a married man and has moved his family to Julesburg. The boys have had a thorough cleaning house time and have ordered a new picture machine, one of the best made and propose to give Julesburg a first class Moving Picture Show in every respect. We wish them success.”
At some point, the theater was moved next door from its original location, as a history of the Hippodrome in the April 24, 2019 Julesburg Advocate gives the address 102 for the Plezol as of February, 1913. Here is an item from the February 6, 1913 issue of the Grit-Advocate:
“Moving Picture Show to Open

“The moving picture show is now under the management of Messrs Davis & Brock who are busy at work making extensive repairs to the old Plezol theater. The new theater will be operated under the name of the Hipp Theater and the boys hope to have everything ready for opening no next Monday night. They will change their film three times a week with an extra feature each week and promise that they have come to stay and to please the people. Their machine and equipment is all new and up-to-date. The Grit-Advocate wish them success in their new enterprise.”

The 2019 article about the Hippodrome said that that house opened in April, 1919, operated by the owner of the Hipp Theatre, who took the old name with him but only used it for one week. The start of remodeling of the Foss Theatre building for use as an apartment house was noted in the April 26, 1917 issue of the paper. As that was two years before The Hipp moved to its new location on Cedar Street, it indicates that the Foss and the Plezol/Hipp were not in the same building. I still haven’t been able to pin down the date of the first move to 102 First Street, but it was probably sometime in 1913, though it must have been after the Sanborn map was published. Neither have I been able to discover what name the original theater operated under before it became the Foss in September, 1910.