Lyric Theatre
117 S. Main Street,
Mondamin,
IA
51557
117 S. Main Street,
Mondamin,
IA
51557
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This small and basic theatre was serving the little farm community of Mondamin by February 1914. It was a simple wooden structure, one story, with the gasoline engine powering the operation sensibly placed in a separate structure.
Mondamin does not appear in any theatre listings, and the town was likely too small to support a theatre. This building had disappeared by 1935 at the latest. There is a house on the site today.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Here is a bit or information from a thumbnail history of Mondamin found on the Iowa Genealogy web site: “In the early days on the south end of old Main street, there was a Boarding House where the Hotel is now. Then there was Ed Springer’s Jewelry Store, and a Harness Shop run by Mike Husselstine. This building later became the Lyric Theatre.”
A couple of paragraphs later the history notes that Maple Street later developed as the town’s main business area, which included a theater called Klutts Opera House. The only reference to Mondamin I’ve come across in theater industry trade journals is this item from Moving Picture World of November 7, 1925: “Charles Behm, Jr., and L. H. Johnson of Mondamin, Ia., have leased the Opera House at that place.”
This must have been the Lyric. Not sure where the Opera House was. There is no theater on the 1935 map. There is a ‘hall’ in the second floor of the building at the NW corner of Maple and Noyes, but that building says ’T. Wallis - 1916' on the top, and I believe it was built as a hotel. It’s still the best choice, I think.
The brief history on the genealogy web site says “Mr. and Mrs. Bill Noyes operated a two story Hotel on the corner where Keith’s store is today [the history was written in 1968]. Next to this was a meat market owned by John Crewdson. Later there was a Harness Shop, Drug Store, and Klutts Opera House built in this section of the street.” A link at the bottom of the page once led to information about the Wallis family, but the url has been highjacked by a gambling site.
Still, a Flickr photo of the Wallis building shows it was once occupied by Keith’s Store, so it appears that the Opera House was not in the Wallis building itself, but was nearby. It might be that the Opera House building was lost sometime between 1925 and 1935.