Seneca, Kansas. Opera
House
.
The Opera House which is pictured above was located where the present day Seneca Theater is located at Third and Main. The building above was bought by J. L. Lamb and the present building was built or remodeled in 1927. The theater front was remodeled again in 1951 and changes again some time later. It was also remodeled on the interior into two theaters so as to be able to show two movies at the sane time.
The Courier Tribune of June 1982 writes the following at the time Jean Kongs retired after operating the theater for 52 years.
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"There was a time before the turn of the century that Seneca had two opera houses, one was the G A R building that was destroyed in the 1896 tornado, the other was the old theater building. Almost ever kind of entertainment was held at these opera houses except operas. Before the invention of the motion picture, residents of Seneca and the surrounding area enjoyed plays, lectures, wrestling matches, slide shows, banquets, and basketball games. Unfortunately the present
theater building is not the original building that was known as
the Opera House in those early days, Very little of the old
building was salvaged when the present building was built by
wealthy Okalahoma Oil Man, J. A. Lamp in 1927. An effort to locate
the exact date the original building was constructed was unsuccessful,
but records were found which showed that it existed in 1882. A
1927 Courier article that describes the present building, says the
original building was "one of Seneca's earliest structures," and it
probably was. |
One could gather from the article above that all were not happy that the Opera House was rebuilt or remodeled with very little of the old opera house saved. As stated it was done by a rich "Oil Man from Okalahoma". It would seem there were some in earlier day also who would like to keep some of the old buildings. We can be thankful that many of the old buildings are still here.
The article goes on to say that the earliest mention of a movie is in the November 4, 1909 Seneca Tribune. The editor merely mentions the Electric Theater is opening in Seneca. also mentioning the theaters were closed during the winter. Later in 1911 it became common practice to close the theater during summer months and to quote the Courier "During these months, films were shown at outdoor theaters on Main Street called air domes. One of these was set up near the Gilford Hotel, another flourished for a time in the vacant lot where the the J C Penney's building now stands."
Another 1915 photo on this web site show this theater which has the name of "Royal Picture Theater" along with a billboard advertising the movie showing. This was likely the outside outside theater referred to above. This was at the location of the now "Fashions Unlimited" in the 500 block, north side. Movies at the Royal Theater were advertised in the news paper of 1927 . Picture below of this building when new was taken from Courier Tribune of 1982
click on photo above
* 07/27/2009