Hey Iowa City – Let’s Go To The Movies! Part I.

Are you ready for a road trip? Allow me here to take you back to Downtown Iowa City – 1907. Buckle up, because this page has become one of my longest and most demanding, but I simply couldn’t cut out any of the marvelous stories surrounding the earliest Movie Houses of Iowa City. Shhh. The lights are dimming. Hold on to your popcorn, and be sure to turn off your cell phones. Here we go – with Part I!

It all begins in the late 1890’s. Thomas Edison had invented the Vitascope – a creative, new way of projecting pictures onto a large screen – and by the turn-of-the-century, “movie houses” were beginning to pop up around the country. 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. By 1917 – ten years later – downtown Iowa City had experienced thirteen different movie houses in eleven different locations – all within just a few blocks of each other!

The “movies” got their start in Iowa City thanks to Thomas A. “Buster” Brown. According to the 1910 Census, Brown was born in 1874, lived at 407 E. Jefferson Street, and was the merchant of a cigar store – The Clinton Street Smoke House – located at 24 S. Clinton, as listed in the 1908 Iowa City Directory. Wanting to cash in on the ‘moving picture’ craze, “Buster” opened his Nickelodeon – named Brown’s Nickeldom – in the spring of 1907 at 128 East Washington. Read the full story here.

In an article from The Iowa City Daily Press (above middle), we see that Miss Caro Inman is moving on to Webster City after a very successful stint as Nickeldom’s piano player and vocalist. I’m guessing that Miss Inman took one of Buster Brown’s Teddy Bears with her as a parting gift! Below – apparently, things are going so well, Brown remodeled his place during the summer, re-opening in the fall of 1907 with a whole new look!

Sometime in mid-1907, George Powell opened his Dreamland Nickelodeon on the first floor of the three-story, early classic revival, brick building located at 111 South Dubuque Street (see pic above). According to newspaper articles, Fred Wilson – a local artist – purchased the business in 1908, making Iowa City’s second “movie” house a strong competitor with Brown’s Nickeldom, which was located just around the corner on Washington Street.

By 1909, new ownership stepped in at Dreamland – with Prof. R.D. (Duffy) Raymond and local merchant Fred Racine buying out Wilson and renaming it The American Theatre. But with Racine focusing his business efforts on his growing drug store (cigars) in the new Jefferson Hotel, Thomas A. “Buster” Brown – the man who started the Iowa City “movie” business back in 1907 – stepped in, buying out the American in 1914, and renaming it Brown’s American Theatre, or as some called it – The New American Theatre. Records indicxate, that despite all the name changes (1907-1914), Iowa Citians still knew they’d find some great film entertainment at 111 S. Dubuque Street!

The earliest records from The Iowa City Daily Press indicate that The Bijou Dream – Iowa City’s third venture into the movies – opened its doors at 119 E. Washington Street on Wednesday, September 25, 1907. You just gotta love the tag line that owner H.F. Pocock used in advertising – The only place where moving pictures do not hurt your eyes.

In December 1907, The Bijou Dream featured one of Hollywood’s earliest hits – Ben Hur starring actor William S. Hart – who would later become the silent era’s foremost star of “cowboy pictures”. Click here to view a 10-minute cut from this silent movie classic.

The following year, 1908, The Bijou Dream owner – H.F. Pocock – opened a second theatre – The Bijou Vaudeville Theatre (more on that later), but by 1909, Professor R.D. (Duffy) Raymond (yes – the same guy who helped buy Dreamland in 1909) purchased The Bijou Dream from Pocock. And now, the fun really began!

You see, in 1909, the two owners of the two different Bijou’s (H.F. Popock & R.D. Raymond) caused quite a ruckus in Iowa City by opening up their theaters on Sundays! Soon, this story was the talk of the town (see above), since breaking (or bending) Iowa’s Blue Law (no business could be open on Sunday) was a serious matter indeed!

As you can see from this ad and article from the **December 13, 1909** edition of The Iowa City Citizen, **The Bijou Dream** had planned a 2-day benefit for raising funds for the Iowa City Fire Department. According to the article, the two movies that were planned for that event were shown a week earlier by The Bijou Dream’s competitors – **Brown’s Nickeldom** and **The American Theatre**. Obviously, the competition amongst Iowa City’s Big Three theaters was fierce, indeed!

So now, we enter in 1908, and as you can see, the competition is really starting to heat up now!

Near the end of the 19th century, Iowa City built a large armory on the south side of College Street – near the corner of Linn Street (see map above). The facility was used for many city events, since it included an open area where 1,000 patrons could be seated.

Records show that a local entrepreneur – Henry Smith – rented the armory to host his occasional vaudeville shows. From what we found, Smith held some scattered events in what became known as Smith’s Armory in 1907 (see above left & middle). But by 1908 (above right), it appears that Smith had cut an on-going deal with the city, planned a remodeling of the auditorium, and re-opened on May 26 for some new vaudeville shows – ones particularly geared for families, since some shows that came to town could certainly be a bit risque in content.

Speaking of Smith’s Armory, in February, 1909, The Daily Press tells us of a near “awful tragedy” that happened at the Elks Club meeting. The SUI mascot at the time – Burch The Bear – was at the event, and apparently, he got a bit rowdy (which happened regularly, BTW) and two brave Elks did their best to control ‘ole Burch, escaping without too much serious damage! Yowsers! Read more about Burch The Bear here.

As you can see from the ads (above), Henry Smith poured a lot of time, energy, and resources into gathering a big crowd at The Peoples Theatre in 1909, and it was during this season, Smith sold out to a Mr. Collins (see below left), who then added movie reels to the vaudeville shows – trying to draw in those Iowa Citians who wanted to experience this new concept in entertainment.

Sadly, Mr. Collins’ long-term efforts apparently failed, as we can’t find any records of The Peoples Theatre from 1911 and after, with records indicating that several automobile dealers – including Sidwell Motors – took over the Armory sometime prior to 1916. Iowa City historian – Irving Weber – tells us more, including the memories of Smith’s Armory by long-time businessman Laurence Short…

As we mentioned earlier, entrepreneur H.F. Pocock opened The Bijou Dream on Washington Street in 1907. The following year – 1908 – Pocock opened his second theater – The Bijou Vaudeville Theatre – just about one block away – at 120 S. Dubuque Street.

As its name suggests, this Bijou Theatre began as an entertainment center that hosted only live vaudeville shows, but over time, especially when a new manager – H. LeRoy Smith – came onto the scene, it evolved into a movie theater as well.

In 1911, a very familiar name to Iowa Citians – William H. Englert – purchased The Bijou Theatre, with the idea that his Bijou would be complimentary to his new theater being built on East Washington Street. But, in September of 1912, when The Englert opened, The Bijou Theatre had already closed its doors – – – But, not for long…

By 1914, The Bijou Theatre was gone, but The Princess Theatre was alive and well at the same location – 120 S. Dubuque Street. As you can see from the articles (above & below), The Princess became one of Iowa City’s top movie theaters – tied in with popular films made by The Mutual Film Company. This arrangement seemed fruitful until 1918, when The Princess closed – making way for W.A. Gay’s Meat Market! But, before we leave The Princess – enjoy this cut from Charlie Chaplin’s Mutual Film – The Floorwalker – which played The Princess in 1916…

Well, that’s about enough to fill Part I of our extensive tour of early Iowa City Movie Houses (1907-1917). Click here to continue our journey – with Hey Iowa City – Let’s Go To The Movies! Part II.

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. You can read more here.