Avalon Theatre

The Avalon Theatre launched on November 3, 1937 with Joe E. Brown in “Fit For A King” (unknown if extras added).

On Christmas Night 1948 at approximately 10:25 PM CT, the Avalon Theatre received an unexpected Christmas night shock when the Avalon Theatre itself was destroyed by a fire that started by the theatre’s projection booth. The fire officially happened right at the start of that night’s second run of Betty Grable’s “Diamond Horseshoe”. Only 20 people attended the screening, all escaped unharmed, but the fire killed the Avalon’s projectionist Lawrence Hesse, a 27-year-old man from Brooten, who died while trying to fight off the blaze in the projection booth. The fire department also received trouble fighting the blaze because the temperatures being -8 degrees Fahrenheit that night. The fire also destroyed a few other businesses, including the Taber’s Cafe and Nelson Hardware & Mercantile Company store.

Brooten was then left without a movie theater for a whole year, until the May 1950 launch of the Brooten Theatre.

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