Barthell Opera House

The Barthel Opera House building was destroyed by a fire that started in the early morning hours of October 22, 2007. At the time of its destruction it was occupied by a restaurant called Wild Willy’s Pizza Saloon. It’s likely that the Barthell was equipped to show movies from the time of its construction, as a notice that the house was nearing completion appeared in the July 24, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World. Still, trade journal mentions of Waukon after that are invariably about the Cota (or Cote) Theatre, so the Barthell was probably never the town’s most important movie venue.