Dubuque Theater Under Many Names
ATHENAEUM, BARTELL’S VAUDEVILLE THEATRE, BIJOU, MAJESTIC, RKO ORPHEUM, DUNCAN-WALLER OPERA HOUSE
Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 2/21/2019 at 14:19:34
"Yesterday and Today" David Gibson. The Golden View, February 2019
The northwest corner of Fourth & Main has been the site of a theater ever since 1840 when the Athenaeum was built. In the 1860’s and 70’s it was refurbished several time under different ownership and names ranging from Duncan-Waller Opera House to Bartell’s Vaudeville Theatre. In 1904, Jacob Rosenthal, assumed ownership and changed the name to Bijou. A few years later Charles H. Eighmey, President of the First National Bank & Harker & Spensley, a real estate and insurance agent, purchased the theatre and completely remolded it. The stage was lowered from the second floor to the main floor and box seats were installed. Tragedy struck on April 7, 1910, when the theatre was destroyed by fire which resulted in over $60,000 in damages. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured in the blaze. The building to the right housed the Crystal Pool Hall and the National Hotel Register Co. with apartments on the upper floors. (Photo courtesy of Loras College, Center for Dubuque History, MSL p. 172 Neg. Hoff. 860).
After the fire the theater hired the Chicago firm of Rapp & Rapp to design a new building at a cost of $90,000. Built in the Renaissance-Flemish architectural style designed as a replica of a theatre in Paris. The Majestic opened later in 1910 and it began showing motion pictures in 1920. It was renamed The Spensley in 1929 and in 1934 became the RKO Orpheum. In the late 1960’s the Orpheum was scheduled for demolition as part of urban renewal. In 1972 several community activists led by Wayne A. Norman, Sr., raised the funds to build an exhibition facility known as Five Flags. As part of this complex the old Orpheum Theatre was completely restored to its former grandeur and reopened in 1976 with a seating capacity of over 700. Today the Five Flags Theater stands as one of the historic landmarks of the Dubuque Community. (Photo by Terri Grant).
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