News Articles
 Below is a listing of news articles and stories of interest.
If you have any articles that you would like to see posted please email me.
Abilene, Kansas
Roof collapses at theater
For the first time in nearly 90 years, the lights have gone out on the marquee of Abilene's historic Plaza Theater movie palace, heavily damaged by a Sunday afternoon roof collapse. No one was in the building, and no one was hurt. ...full story
Report will tell theater's future
If they can't, the town will lose one of its finest treasures. Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower conducted his first news conference in the downtown movie house that opened in 1910. Abilene residents have had countless evenings -- and first dates -- at the theater for as long as townsfolk can remember. ...full story
Aged theater will be razed
A 120-year-old building that housed the city's only movie theater is too badly damaged to salvage and will be torn down, one of the owners said Wednesday. The building housing the Plaza Theatre in downtown Abilene will be torn down over the next 30 days, said co-owner Cathy Strowig. Part of the roof and a wall of the building collapsed last month.  "We all pretty much came to the same conclusion. There just isn't going to be enough left -- after you tear down what needs to be torn down -- to save," Strowig said. "The damage is too much. If it were just the roof or something, it would be different. But the supports were damaged also." ...full story
Closing of theater ends an Abilene tradition
 Since becoming a movie theater in the 1930s, the Plaza Theatre, 408 N.W. 2nd, has served as a rite of passage for Abilene's youth. Last month, Abilene lost the Plaza Theatre, its only movie theater. Part of the roof and a wall of the 120-year-old former opera house collapsed, leaving the theater unsalvageable. "It's a part of everybody," said co-owner Cathy Strowig, who began working at the theater when she was 13 and spent Saturday afternoons at the matinee. "When you're in middle school in a small town, that's where you go for your first piece of freedom." ...full story
Arkansas City, Kansas
Community discusses uses for restored Burford
 Once renovated, the Burford Theatre could serve as a hub of downtown activity in Arkansas City, a dozen community members attending a renovation planning meeting Thursday, agreed. The theater, which was built in 1924, could be used to show classic movies and art movies and as a venue for various performing groups, meeting participants said. ...full story
Atchison, Kansas

Movie Theaters In Atchison
The Royal, The Crystal, The Orpheum, The Fox, The Frontier Drive-In
 The story of Atchison's history of movie houses intrigues me. WHERE were they? WHEN did they open?WHO worked there? WHAT were some of the very special movies that came to Atchison? WHO worked at these theaters? WHAT were some of the best remembered experiences at one of our local big-screen theaters? WHERE were these 'shows'? WHEN did they open? WHY did they disappear from Atchison? HOW did we ever grow up without television? These questions, and more, in this story of the movies we all loved to see over and over. ...full story
Burford, Kansas
Community discusses uses for restored Burford
 Once renovated, the Burford Theatre could serve as a hub of downtown activity in Arkansas City, a dozen community members attending a renovation planning meeting Thursday, agreed. "I think it should be a hub for Ark City," Terry Eaton said. "We hear the old stories of having elephants on stage and Ginger Rogers on stage." The theater, which was built in 1924, could be used to show classic movies and art movies and as a venue for various performing groups, meeting participants said. ...full story
Fixing the roof. Donation will help repair the Burford
An Arkansas City bank and roofing company are donating $26,000 for materials and labor to restore the roof of the Burford Buildings. Union State Bank is providing money for materials and Powers Roofing will provide free labor for the project. ...full story
Derby, Kansas
Derby's Silver Screen converts to 'dinner movies'
Call it "dinner movies" -- sort of like dinner theater only with flicks instead of live actors. That's what Derby's Silver Screen Cinema will be offering when it reopens in mid-May after remodeling to add a kitchen to prepare fresh pizza and some tables and chairs for moviegoers. ...full story
Elkhart, Kansas
Letter Sheds Light On Doric History
Letter written by Virginia O’Brien upon receiving word that Morton County Theatre Group was planning to purchase the Doric Theater building. ...full story

Group provides live theater for southwest Kansas
"The play's the thing," wrote Shakespeare, the resident playwright of merry old England. But in the southwest corner of Kansas, the play is the only thing, thanks to the fledgling Morton County Community Theater Group. Organized in 1997, the talented High Plains thespians' group provides the only live civic theater within a 100-mile radius of Elkhart, the county seat. ...full story
Doric Theatre to Come Full Circle - Elkhart, Kansas
When the Doric Theatre came into being around 1918 it was built for live stage performances and silent movies.  Dark now for many years, the theatre will once again come to life with the sounds of stage and crew.  Morton County Community Theatre Group has purchased the building from Top Ranked Investments, Inc.  the group has been approved for a loan and will apply for grants, seek donations and hold fund-raisers. ...full story
Dodge City, Kansas
Car show, gun fight, ribbon cutting to greet visitors to restored Dodge Theatre
 When people walk into the grand opening of the restored Dodge Theatre Saturday, they will be stepping back 59 years into the past. ...read more
Downtown Dodge Association launches membership drive
The Downtown Dodge Association is back, and it’s made revitalizing downtown its top priority. The organization will conduct a meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Homestead Theater, 101 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd. to discuss a membership drive. There have been 14 to 16 members present at each meeting this year, and the association has compiled a list of about 90 potential members. ...read more
Man restores historic Dodge Theatre to its original glory
If everything goes as planned, the Dodge Theatre will soon be seeing lights, camera and action again.The smell of popcorn will fill the lobby as the audience takes its seats. The curtain will rise, and the show will start. The theater closed in the fall of 1997 after Ron Cooper, who was leasing it from building owner Mike Burkhart, decided he could no longer afford to lease it. Cooper had managed the theater since 1974, and stayed on as manager after Burkhart bought it in 1984. ...read more
Association seeks support for historic theaters
A statewide association is trying to convince people that supporting historic theaters is good for their community. The Kansas Historic Theatres Association was formed a year ago to support non-profit historic theaters across the state and to convince communities to support them. The association's board of directors had a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Dodge Theatre. ...read more
Dodge Theatre relives part of its past
As the lights went down in the Dodge Theatre and the Warner Bros. Co. logo came onto the screen, one could believe that it was 60 years ago Sunday. ...read more
Sanchez reminisces about the premier of 'Dodge City'
 Louie Sanchez clearly remembers the day Hollywood came to Dodge City. A boy of 15 that day, Sanchez said he can still feel the crush of the crowd as thousands gathered in front of the Dodge Theatre to catch a glimpse of movie stars going to the world premiere of the movie, "Dodge City." ...read more
DODGE THEATER Coming Soon?
It was home to the premiere of the 1939 movie "Dodge City." For close to six decades, it was one of the only options for the movie-going public in Dodge City. Then, the Dodge Theater began to fall into disrepair. The carpets became threadbare, and the seats began to break. ...read more
A night at the Drive-In
The old drive-in movie theaters are becoming a rare sight all across the United States. In fact, in Kansas there are less than 10 still operating, including the South Drive-In on McArtor Road in Dodge City. ...read more
Dodge Theatre relives premiere
The cars parked on Gunsmoke Street on Saturday might have been like those parked in front of the theater on April 1, 1939, when 70,000 people poured into Dodge City for the premiere of the movie, "Dodge City." ...read more
Dodge City: The day Hollywood came to town
 It was one of the biggest events to hit in Dodge City in this century -- the world premiere of the movie "Dodge City." The movie opened on April 1, 1939, an brought an estimated 150,000 people into town for the event came to Dodge City for the premiere, according to Joe White, who is organizing the anniversary celebration. ...read more
GAS, Kansas
Popular theater offers bit of nostalgia
Heather and Tony Bauer were perplexed. The teenagers had come to U.S. 54 Drive-In to see two movies but couldn't figure out how to dial in the audio on their car radio. So, they sat in silence and watched two movies. Well, sort of. "We were back in the grass because it was packed that night," Heather Bauer remembers. "It was the summer of 1995, and it was here that he first said he loved me." ...full story
Goodland, Kansas
Sherman Theater
In 1914, some years after the Gray Front restaurant closed, the Lyric Theatre opened in the south side area of 1019 Main Street.  The Gray Front business building opened in 1907, and housed a furniture store on the north, an elegant cafe on the south, and a first class hotel on the second floor.  The theatre remained in operation, complete with an orchestra pit, until 1926. ...full story
Goodland Opera House
 Goodland’s first Opera House was a frame building 46 by 100 feet a block west of Main on 10th Street. There was a stage with a painted drop curtain, and the floor was suitable for dancing and roller-skating.  The Crystal Theater occupied this location for several years.  When the brick building on Main Street was erected, the frame building fell in to disuse, and abandoned, it burned in the 1920’s. ...full story
Harper, Kansas
Harper Theatre History
 In February 1939 Charles Botkin ran a huge ad in "The Harper Advocate" announcing the 20th anniversary celebration of the Harper Theatre with a week of the greatest movies in its history. ...read more
Kansas City, Kansas
The refurbished Screenland Granada in KCK is looking for its audience.
“It’s every bit the challenge that we assumed it would be.” Butch Rigby, operator of the Screenland Granada theater. Last weekend the Screenland Granada in downtown KCK showed a new print of “Top Gun.” Twelve people showed up. For the entire weekend. ..read more
Kinsley, Kansas
Saving the past
 Kinsley, Greensburg work to restore community theaters. Small town theaters are becoming a rarity across America. But two southwest Kansas towns are taking steps to save their vintage movie houses. Kinsley and Greensburg have two of the oldest theaters in Kansas. Both have been registered with the Kansas Historical Theater Association. ...full story
LaCrosse, Kansas
Reflections - The Theaters Of LaCrosse, Kansas
Brad Penka contacted me with a great update on the theaters in LaCrosse, Kansas. He has compiled this information for the local historical society. Great job Brad keep up the great work! Make sure you check out this wonderful page of information and photos! website
Liberal, Kansas

Now showing at the Great Western drive-in theatre
 The Japanese had just surrendered to end World War II, and the post-war economy was booming. The year was 1946, times were good in Southwest Kansas, and Jay Wooten had an idea to bring a drive-in theater to Liberal. He named it the Great Western. "He didn't have much money to do it," Wooten's son Jerry said. "He had just enough to put in the screen, projector, speakers and concession stand." When the Great Western opened, people came from far and wide to watch a movie on the huge 60-foot tall, 124-foot wide screen. ...full story
Tucker Theater History
This modern show house opened on September 28th, 1921 and Costing $60,000.00.  It is a beautiful brick structure, and was thoroughly modern and up-to-date in every respect.  It had a large foyer and lobby, modern dressing rooms, ample balcony, a stage large enough to accommodate any show of the big circuits, also two of the very latest Powers Projectors and the latest ventilating and heating system was installed. ...full story
Henry Tucker
The Man Who Helped Start It All !
When Henry V. Tucker entered the theatre business many years ago in a small frame building on West Second Street where the Majestic Theater was located, ( which is now a warehouse ) such a structure as the Fox Plaza, which was completed in the 1930's, was not even dreamed of.  In those days theater owners didn't put thousands of dollars into beautifully furnished buildings and equipment was crude beside the sound systems of today. ...full story
TUCKER THEATRE WILL OPEN NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT
The Tucker theatre, the handsome new building which has been in process of construction for the past several months, will be completed and thrown open to the public Wednesday night, September 28. The opening show will be a splendid attraction. Dardanella the advertising for which you will notice in other places in this section of this issue of the News. It is a musical comedy of the best kind and should draw a full house. ...full story

HENRY TUCKER HONORED
Liberal’s Tucker theater last night completed 50 years of showings to people of this area and honored the theater’s founder and builder, Henry V. Tucker of Liberal, in a gala program. The doors of the theater were opened at 7:30, following a ribbon cutting ceremony in which Mrs. Barbara Rinehart, winner of this year’s International Pancake Day Race here, snipped the ribbon admitting patrons and guests to the theater and its showing of, "Gone With the Wind."  Mrs. Rinehart was introduced by Mike Rose president of Liberal Jaycees. ...full story
Commonwealth Officers Mark Tucker 50th Year
 Liberal, Kansas - Elmer C. Rhoden, chairman of the board of directors of Commonwealth Theatres Kansas City, was the guest speaker at recent festivities marking the 50th anniversary of the Tucker Theatre here and honoring its founder, Henry Tucker. ...full story
FOX Plaza prologue
I am not endowed with life, but each beam and stone that went into my building was dedicated to the purpose of making life fuller and more complete for the people of Liberal. ...full story
Plaza Sound Equipment Is Best To Be Obtained
 The Western Electric Sound equipment installed in the Plaza is the finest for reproducing sound pictures which can be obtained.  Talking pictures are made of two types - sound on disc and sound on film. The new reproducing machines at the Plaza will handle either type of talkie picture.  Most of the films now shown in Liberal are of the sound on film type, because producers believe they can get better results with this type of film. ...full story
GRAND OPENING OF FOX PLAZA
At dusk last night one thousand glittering electric lights in the big marquee sign guided the crowds to the new Fox Plaza theater for the grand opening.  Eager for the first glimpse of the interior of the new theatre, ticket purchasers found the new ticket vending and change making machine operated by Mrs. Dale Hubbard the last word in efficiency and speed and they were soon inside the foyer. ...full story
McPherson, Kansas
Committee raising money to restore historic McPherson Opera House
 An effort to raise money for the $4.9 million restoration of the 111-year-old McPherson Opera House is off to a good start thanks to a trust gift from a man who grew up here, the honorary chairman of the fund-raising committee says. ...full story
Newton, Kansas
Cost to renovate historic theater estimated at $543,000
A lot must happen to transform Newton's historic Fox Theater into a modern conference center. And it'll cost some money. The city, which owns the Main Street building, recently received a cost estimate from Architects. The cost of the renovation is estimated at $543,000. ...full story
Group seeks to restore Newton's Fox
Behind a white canvas screen, Mike Penner runs his flashlight beam over the dusty shapes in the shadows of Newton's Fox Theatre stage. A popcorn machine, its plastic windows broken, sits to one side. Rolls of carpet circa 1960 litter the floor, weaving around the piles of trashed cherry red seat backs, dust and tiny bug carcasses. Stepping over some plastic chair parts, Penner points his beam high, showing the rough cut where Fox workers in 1955 took a chain saw to what was once an ornate plaster proscenium arch. ...full story
Overland Park, Kansas

MAKING THE RIO GRAND:
Remnants of old theaters give rise to a new movie house
 In the movie classic "Frankenstein" a creature is pieced together from parts of dead bodies. Think of the new Rio in downtown Overland Park as a theater pieced together from parts of dead movie houses. The result, however, is way too charming to be called a monster. In a restoration process that has taken nearly seven years, the 54-year-old theater -- which hasn't shown a movie in a quarter of a century -- has been gutted and remade into an old-fashioned single-screen movie palace using fixtures saved from condemned theaters throughout the Midwest and kept in storage until now. ...full story
Peabody, Kansas
History of the Sunflower Theater
The Barns-Sunflower Theatre was erected for Arnold Berns (born 1878, died 1965). Of German ancestry, Berns moved to Peabody from Hanover, Kansas, in 1899. He was accompanied by his father, Jacob, and his mother, Mary. The following year, his sisters Rose and Elizabeth also arrived in Peabody. Jacob and Arnold Berns formed the Berns company, dealers in grain and coal. In addition, they were involved in the cattle business (Peabody Museum, Archive File, Berns, Arnold 1183). By 1910, Arnold's land holdings including grazing lands in Marion, Butler, Chase, Clark, and Meade counties. Arnold was president of the Kansas Livestock Association in 1927 and 1928. ...full story
Pittsburg, Kansas
A History Lesson on the Colonial Fox Theater
 The Colonial Fox Theatre (1919-1920) is located at 409 North Broadway in Pittsburg, Crawford County, Kansas (population 17,800). The largest city in southeast Kansas, Pittsburg is approximately 10 miles southeast of the county seat of Girard and approximately 3 miles west of the Missouri state line. The theatre's dual name reflects the fact that from its opening in 1920, until the late 1950s, it was known as the Colonial. In 1959, the Fox Kansas Theatre Company, which leased the theatre, renamed it the Fox, the name by which it was known until closing in the mid-1980s. ...full story
The Colonial Fox Theatre: vision, volunteers needed
 Some are calling their mission quixotic, and it may be, but before we demolish their dream and pave it over for another parking lot, let's not forget the same thing was said of those who sought to save both Memorial Auditorium and the Stilwell Hotel. ...full story
Good news for Colonial Fox
It seems the theater gods are smiling upon the Colonial Fox Theatre recently. First, the theater is about to be placed on the Kansas Preservation Alliance's of the ‘Most Endangered Historic Places'. Then, the Colonial Fox Foundation found out it has been given 501(c)3 status, meaning it is a not-for-profit organization, which could be helpful in raising funds. ...full story
Strong City, Kansas
Strong City Opera House
The city purchased the Strong City Opera House (Auditorium/Theatre) building in the fall of 2000. Restoration of the building is planned. Grants and donations are being sought as the City does not have the financial resources to undertake the entire project. ...read more
Wamego, Kansas

The History of the Rodgers Building, Columbian Theater and Columbian Murals
By whatever name, the building at 521 Lincoln in Wamego, Kansas is a historic landmark. The building was built by J.C. Rogers, a local banker and merchant, in 1895 to house a number of the artifacts he had bought at the end of the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Also the building was to accommodate a mercantile business a in premium main street location. The stage and large ballroom were built on the second floor and named "The Columbian" because of the large oil paintings and other adornment from the 1893 Exposition. It was hard to visualize that the building, with the boarded up windows in the small town of Wamego, actually houses nationally important historic paintings, artifacts and a stage nearly 100 years old. ...full story
Washington, Kansas
History of the Major Theater
The Major Theater was built by C. A. Swiercinsky in 1936.  The theater was air-conditioned and fully equipped with all the latest devices for motion pictures. ...full story
Wichita, Kansas
Theater faces uncertain future
When a group of investors bought the historic Orpheum Theatre, supporters thought it would take a few years and from $2 million to $3 million to restore it to its former glory. ...full story
Kansas Related Articles
My Movie House History
Movies have been apart of my life for a long time now and it has woven its history through me. ...read more
Silents, please
Silent film buffs say these classic movies still have much to say in a movie-going world dominated by the eardrum-numbing, high-tech sound systems of today's theaters. ...full story
Commonwealth Theaters Buy 2 County Drive-Ins
 Commonwealth Theaters, Inc., owner of theater houses in Great Bend, Hoisington, Ellsworth and Pratt in [this] area, has purchased the Great Bend Drive-In theater and the Ellinwood Drive-In theater, according to an announcement by J. D. KING, Commonwealth division manager, and Mrs. Audrey FLYNN, manager of Haas - Flynn Theaters, Inc. ...full story
As the century changed, so did entertainment
 The year 1900 arrived in Topeka with a little-noticed hint of what the next century would mean for entertainment. As unlikely as it seemed then, many of the opera houses where Kansans went for amusement would have to change their ways -- or face the final curtain. ...full story
Boller Brothers Design
The Boller Brothers were one of the earliest and best-known theater design firms in the country. ...full story
Students focus on restoring theaters
That theatrical adage has inspired several Kansas towns and cities to begin restoration projects on theaters and opera houses that have been under-used or dormant for decades. ...full story
Ted Sheahon - A Man With A Passion
Ted Sheahon first began in the theatre business in 1937 as an usher for the Watson Theatre in Salina, Kansas. After being promoted to doorman at the Watson, Sheahon was then offered a position in Wichita in 1941 by Ralph Bartlett, the city manager for Fox Theatres. ...full story
Censorship Of Motion Pictures In Kansas
 The Kansas State Board of Review was established by the Legislature in 1913, replacing the Moving Picture Censorship Committee. The board was given no financial support at that time, making the inspection of films in Kansas impossible initially. However, in 1915, the law allowing for the inspection of films was amended, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, W.D. Ross, served as the Board's first chairman. In February, 1915, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State of Ohio's film censorship law (Mutual Film Corp v. Industrial Commission of Ohio), making film censorship constitutional. This further strengthened the validity of Kansas Board of Review. ...full story

Kansas theaters listed on the National Register of Historic Places
 The Register of Historic Kansas Places includes properties listed below which are not on the National Register of Historic Places. All Kansas properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are also on the Register of Historic Kansas Places. ...full story

 

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