Temple Theatre
116 S. Main Street,
Viroqua,
WI
54665
116 S. Main Street,
Viroqua,
WI
54665
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The NRHP registration form for the Masonic Temple Building (PDF here) says that the Temple Theatre opened on July 1, 1922 under the management of local showman Ben C. Brown, who had first shown movies in Viroqua at the old Brown Opera House at 120-122 N. Main Street in 1908, and had later operated an Airdome, a storefront house called the Electric Theatre, and then in 1915 the Star Theatre, which was in a new building at 211 S. Main Street.
In 1931, the Masonic Lodge entered lease agreement with the Paramount-Publix theater chain, which remodeled the theater interior from its original Classical Revival style to the popular, modern Art Deco style, and installed a modern marquee, though the building’s exterior was otherwise unchanged, retaining the Classical Revival look it still has today. Having lost control of the Temple, Ben Brown responded by converting a garage on Court Street into the Vernon Theatre.
Neither the local Masonic lodge nor Paramount-Publix prospered in Viroqua in the early years of the depression, and by 1935 the Masons had lost their building and Paramount its lease on the theater. The building’s new owner, William Dyson, sold the upstairs lodge facilities back to the Masons, but retained ownership of the ground floor, leasing the theater to a local operator, though it was not Brown. The new operator, Jacob Eskin, refreshed the house and installed new seating with four more inches between rows.
By 1951, when Ben Brown celebrated his sixtieth anniversary in show business (he had started as a promoter of shows in the town’s Brown Opera House in 1891) he was once again a partner in the Temple Theatre.
This item is from the July 29, 1922 issue of The Billboard: “The Temple Theater, Viroqua, Wis., was formally opened early this month and has been enjoying excellent patronage.”
The Temple Theatre has recently installed a new screen and projector, and movies have returned. The first film to be shown on the new screen was Citizen Kane.
Updated website link: http://historictempletheatre.com/
Function should be changed to live performances.
The architects were Parkinson and Dockendorff and it reopened in 2002.
Nice expandable photos at this link:
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The web site for this theatre can be found at:
http://www.temple-theatre.com/index.htm