Lyric Theater
114 S. Main Street,
Albia,
IA
52531
114 S. Main Street,
Albia,
IA
52531
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The Lyric didn’t make the American Motion Picture Directory in 1914, but it was the only picture theater listed at Albia in that year’s Gus Hill directory. It was listed there with a capacity of 388 (which, if accurate, does seem a bit large for this space) and admission prices of five and ten cents. The Lyric subscribed to the Mutual picture service, and the manager was named C. A. Hibbard.
This may possibly have been the Lyric, which opened in Spring 1913, and closed in 1916. That theater offered vaudeville, and I’m not sure this space would have been large enough.
The notes on this building from the NRHP listing do not offer any identification for this theater, but they do note that the large number of early theaters indicate an intense interest in entertainment, particularly from the coal miners in the area. The coal industry in this part of Iowa is long gone, but Albia had nearly 5,100 people in 1920 (versus just over 3,700 today), and Monroe County peaked at well over 25,000 people in 1910, which today has shrunk to 7,500, less than its 1860 population.