Entertainment Tonight – Iowa City – The Early 1900’s.

In an earlier post, we gave you a tour of the entertainment centers of 19th century Iowa City – buildings at the city’s center (see above) that hosted all types of public gatherings – from lectures and concerts to plays and political meetings. So here, we’d like to pick up where we left off – starting at the turn-of-the-century (1900) and moving through the next phase of live entertainment options for Iowa Citians of the early 20th century.

As you might imagine, building fires were one of the major causes for the rapid transition in downtown entertainment facilities. Let me give you a few examples…

The popular Franklin Market Music Hall – located on the top floor of the impressive three-story brick building on the southeast corner of Iowa Avenue & Dubuque Street – was destroyed in a devastating fire that took out a good number of buildings along South Dubuque Street in 1868. That fire also took out two buildings owned by Daniel Ham – an Iowa City merchant we’ll refer to a bit later.

SUI’s North Hall – built in 1865 – was located directly north of Old Capitol and it not only housed many SUI classrooms, but the top floor was also the home to the growing University Library and a large Chapel Hall which hosted numerous civic gatherings and other university events. On June 19, 1897, lightening stuck the building, and while the brave Iowa City firemen saved the building from being a total loss, the entire second floor was destroyed, including the SUI Library and North Hall Chapel. Read more here.

SUI’s South Hall – built in 1861 – was located directly south of Old Capitol, and its top floor was used for countless university functions and other civic gatherings. But, on March 10, 1901, South Hall was completely destroyed by a massive fire which also took out the adjacent SUI Medical Building, and nearly spread to Old Capitol. Read more here.

For most of the second half of the 19th century, Metropolitan Hall was the one of Iowa City’s finest theatres. Sitting atop the impressive, three-story brick building built in 1858 by Robert Hutchinson on the southwest corner of Washington & Dubuque Streets, the Metro hosted a great majority of Iowa City’s social events between 1860 until the early 1880’s, when the nearby Coldren Opera House took over much of the entertainment business in town. While Metro Hall gave way to its successor prior to 1900, the building, itself, caught fire on October 10, 1912, leaving a massive void in downtown Iowa City.

Opening in the 1870’s – the St. James Hotel was located on the highly-trafficked southeast corner of Iowa Avenue & Clinton Street, and at the turn-of-the-century, the St. James had become Iowa City’s finest hotel – hosting many civic gatherings and being the home of the SUI Student Union before a massive fire destroyed it – and several other adjacent buildings – on Good Friday, April 21, 1916. Read more here.

Entering into the 20th century, with the loss of so many buildings to fire, there were two well-established downtown live entertainment centers that continued to draw in Iowa City patrons. We discuss them both in greater detail here, but suffice here to say…

Located at 4, 6, 8, & 10 South Dubuque Street and built by Daniel Ham in 1868 – following the devastating fire on S. Dubuque – Ham’s Hall was on the second floor of this large red-brick storefront, and was deemed fire-safe by the local fire department. Ham’s Hall continued to draw in big crowds, even after changing both its ownership and its name in 1905 – more on that just a bit later…

Built in 1875 and enlarged in the 1880’s, Joseph Slezak and his son – Frank V. Slezak – and his son-in-law – Joseph F. Holub built a true commercial center on the north side of Iowa City. Slezak’s National Hall complex included a hotel, a dance hall with a stage and balcony, a grocery (dry goods) store, a saloon & Bohemian restaurant (noted for its 25-cent meal that included a free beer!), and even a horse stable to park your wagon and/or buggy! By the early 1900’s, National Hall was competing head-to-head with Ham’s Hall for the public’s attention. Read more here.

Located on the southeast corner of Clinton & College Streets and dedicated on November 2, 1877, The Colden Opera House was on the second & third floor of Ezekiel Clark & Thomas Hill’s Iowa City Bank Company. Below are ads from The Iowa Citizen (1897) and The Iowa State Press (1900) – both highlighting the excitement in Iowa City surrounding events held at the Opera House…

The Coldren interior – considered spectacular in its time – featured an array of chandelier and sconce lighting, and Its stage lighting was considered state-of-the-art during the late 19th century. Originally designed to accommodate nearly 1,000 guests, after the 1897 remodeling, The Coldren seated 845 patrons on three levels – all within the top two floors of the building – 54 steps up from the chamfered-corner entrance on Clinton & College Streets. In truth, during the last two decades of the 19th century, and until its demise in 1912, it was hard to find many civic events of Iowa City that weren’t hosted by the popular Coldren Opera House.

As we mentioned earlier, Daniel Ham’s popular Ham’s Hall – located on South Dubuque Street – was deemed fire-safe by local officials, thus it continued to be a popular gathering spot in Iowa City well into the the early part of the 20th century. But, in 1905, Ham sold his building. Below, from The Iowa Citizen, are the details…

In 1905, Albert ‘Punch’ C. Dunkel took possession of Ham’s Hall, and over a two year period, renovated and re-opened the facility, calling it The Majestic Hall. According to city records, The Majestic was a popular party room/dance hall well into the early 1920’s, when it changed hands once more, becoming The Cotillion Hall.

Built in 1870, this red-brick church building on the northeast corner of Iowa Avenue & Clinton Street served the small Unitarian congregation of Iowa City very well. In 1897, with SUI’s North Hall out of service because of the fire, facility needs were urgent, so the University immediately rented the church’s entire basement, using it as both a temporary library space and a coffee shop where students could gather. After North Hall was restored, the SUI Library moved back across the street, but as more and more student activities were scheduled at the church, in 1906, the University decided to purchase the building, at which time it took on the name Unity Hall, or as some liked to call it, Old Unity. In 1907, the building quickly became part of the “official” SUI campus – becoming the home of the SUI Department of Public Speaking, and in 1911, Unity Hall was renovated, making it even more suitable for larger student gatherings. As a result, this 1870 red-brick beauty became Iowa’s first Student Union. Read more here.

The Hall of Natural Science – later named Macbride Hall – opened in 1908. This classic building – located just northeast of Old Capitol – housed the largest classroom on the SUI campus – MacBride Auditorium – and it served as the host of the SUI Library for four decades. The auditorium offered seating to 760 patrons, thus making it second only to The Coldren Opera House for capacity potential. Read more here.

Earlier, we mentioned Robert Hutchinson and his Metropolitan Hall – which closed soon after the Coldren Opera House became the go-to entertainment center in the 1880’s. Hutchinson was a vibrant, Iowa City pioneer who came to Johnson County in 1839, and was actively involved in many of the city’s earliest construction projects, including Old Capitol. You can read more here. Buying 157 acres of land just west of the Iowa River – in what is, today, the Manville Heights neighborhood of Iowa City (see maps below), Hutchinson built his first home in 1840. Sixty years later, this turn-of-the-century acreage – then owned by Bert Manville (Manville Heights)- was known to Iowa Citians as Hutchinson’s Grove.

And it was here, beginning in 1906 and extending well into the roaring 20’s, where Iowa Citians gathered every late July & early August for ten days of Chautauqua.

(C-0313a/b) In 1974, the USPS issued a commemorative stamp honoring the long history of Chautauqua.

Billing itself as “the people’s college”, Chautauqua was birthed out of the Lyceum Movement of 19th century, and by the turn-of-the century, all across rural America, it evolved into a huge traveling tent show that included lectures – both secular and religious in nature, song-n-dance, and other forms of G-rated, family-oriented entertainment. Here in Iowa, Chautauqua – between 1900 and 1920 – became the intellectual counter-point to the agricultural-focused Iowa State Fair.

The “big tent” at the Iowa City Chautauqua was equivalent to the “center ring” at the circus and during the early 20th century featured fiery speeches from Rev. Billy Sunday, William Jennings Bryan, and many others – as well as lectures, plays, skits and musical concerts of all sorts. According to Iowa City historian Bob Hibbs, there was one nationally-known Chautauqua speaker – a SUI professor named “Bunny” Wassam – also known as “the oral cyclone” with some 1,100 appearances in 25 states from California to Michigan between 1914 and 1928. As Hibbs put it, “Wassam was a philosopher who spoke ‘with the rapid-fire of a Gatling gun.’

(Above) The 1915 Iowa City Chautauqua opened on August 1, 1915.

The local historian, Irving Weber, estimated that between 400 and 500 people camped on the Chautauqua grounds each year, while many other patrons came and went each day. The Interurban Railway (CRANDIC) ran cars between the grounds and downtown Iowa City since its tracks passed within sight of the southern edge of “tent city.” After 1911, Iowa City streetcars made regular runs from the north edge of the grounds across the Park Road Bridge.

Ticket prices ranged from $3 for all events to $1.25 for just the evening. The 1921 program for August 17-21 offered adult season tickets for “$2 – with war tax included.” Tents were supplied and pitched by providers from as far away as Des Moines, and during the 10-day 1907 season, tent costs ranged from $3.50 for a 10-ft by 12-ft size to $10.50 for a five-room 14-ft by 21-ft model. You could add a wire cot for 60 cents each, and mattresses and chairs ran 35 cents each if you wanted more comfort while camping. Here’s more details on Chautauqua from Weber…

Which brings us now to a huge transition in American entertainment that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Early “movies” were nothing special compared to the blockbuster films of today — they were short, black-and-white, silent films that showed everyday occurrences like workers leaving a factory after the workday or a train entering a station. However, movie-goers were delighted, amazed, and even shocked with this new 20th century marvel.

The first theater built specifically to show “movies” opened its door on April 2, 1902, in Los Angeles, and it was an instant success. In 1905, Pittsburgh movie theater owners – Harry Davis and John Harris – introduced 5-cent Nickelodeon movies, and two years later, by 1907, Iowa City had at least three movie theaters to call her own. But that was just the beginning…

So, before we move on, let’s pay one final thank you to The Coldren Opera House, Ham’s Hall – The Majestic, Chautauqua, and all the rest of these classic live entertainment centers of Iowa City at the turn-of-the-century. And now, it’s time to go to the movies…

On July 1, 1976, The Iowa City Press-Citizen published a special 76-page Bicentennial edition. In that edition there were articles and pictures related to stories found on this page.

Read more here:
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