Gem Theatre
220 Broadway Street,
Audubon,
IA
50025
220 Broadway Street,
Audubon,
IA
50025
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This theatre appears on the 1913 Sanborn. It was located in a two story wooden building which apparently dated to sometime before 1886, but had been modified several times over the years. The 1908 map shows woodworking at this address.
No later maps are available online, and this building and its neighbor were replaced long ago by a drab one-story box of indeterminate age.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The only theater listed at Audubon in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Gem. The Gem, run by a Paul Hoover, was also listed in Polk’s 1912-1913 Iowa Gazetteer. An item in the October 10, 1912 Audubon Republican made reference to “…the Hall west of the Gem Theatre….” I see a hall on the Sanborn map, but can’t tell what direction it is from the theater nearby. Not much to go on, though if this was the only theater shown on the map then odds are pretty good it was the Gem.
By 1922, a trade journal mentions a house called the Crescent Theatre in Audubon, and it is listed with 350 seats, so unless the building was considerably expanded it was probably not the same theater.
The Crescent is the same as the Rose. I’d bet this was closed when the Crescent was built, which was perhaps 1916 or earlier. The hall west of the Gem might have been an opera house across the street, which is now the Ace Hardware. Several unnamed halls appear on other maps, all to the east of this building.