Hupp Theatre
603 Iowa Avenue,
Dunlap,
IA
51529
603 Iowa Avenue,
Dunlap,
IA
51529
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This theatre appears on the 1913 Sanborn, located in a one-story brick storefront constructed sometime between 1899 and 1908. The 1908 map shows dry goods and shoes sold here.
The 1914-15 AMPD lists the Electric Theatre, Wilupp Theatre, and Beck Theatre. It is unclear which this was. By 1926 only an Idle Hour Theatre is listed. Unfortunately, the 1930 map is not available online to identify that location.
This building, along with 4 neighboring structures, has been demolished. The lot is occupied by a bank which may be from the 1970’s.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
A document about the building at 701-703 Iowa Avenue, which once housed the Idle Hour Theatre, mentions in passing a second theater in Dunlap, “…located in the area which is now the drive-in of the new bank.” That must have been this house. It was called the Hupp Theatre. The June 27, 1914 issue of The Billboard mentions “E. G. Hunter & Son, of Dunlap, Ia., proprietors of the Hupp Theater and Roller Rink…”
I am wondering if a “Willup” Theatre at Dunlap in the AMPD could have been an error, perhaps an accidental displacement of the Willup Theatre in Woodbine? I’ve found no other references linking the name Willup to Dunlap. The March 10, 1916 issue of the Estherville Iowa Opera House Reporter, mentions both the Idle Hour Theatre in Dunlap and the Willup Theatre in Woodbine.
Wilupp (one L and 2 Ps, although the AMPD spells it wrong under both towns) seemed conceivable. Since Woodbine is so close, it could have been owned by the same person.
But it appears that it was an error, and Hupp is the name for this one.
An article in the Dunlap Reporter of April 17, 1914 notes that Dunlap then had two movie theaters, “…the Hupp Theater, conducted by E. G. Hunter, and Beck’s Picture Show, conducted by Mrs. L. R. Beck.” I’ve found Mrs. Beck and her theater mentioned in a trade journal as early as December, 1913.
The PDF about the building at 701 Iowa Avenue is not clear about the years of operation of the house there, and mentions the Hupp only briefly, but the 1945 FDY lists three theaters in Dunlap. They were the 250-seat Dunlap Theatre, the 264 seat Royal Theatre, and a house called the Miller Theatre, listed only as closed. As the bank on the Hupp’s site is of a style characteristic of the 1970s or 1980s, I wonder if the Hupp survived for a long time and became one of those three houses? I’ve found the Royal mentioned in Boxoffice as late as 1951 and the Dunlap Theatre as late as 1957.