About this property
Broadway Theater, also known as the New Broadway Theatre, Fox Broadway, Kerasotes Broadway Theatre, is a historic vaudeville house and movie theater located at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It is located in the Broadway Commercial Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The building was destroyed by a fire in 2021, and in 2023, the former theatre had started redevelopment with retail and residential spaces, with phase one being completed in 2024. Built in 1921, it is a two-story red brick building with a white glazed brick façade. The structure originally included a theater and storefronts on the ground level, with office space above. The theatre formally opened on December 24, 1921, with the showing of The Sheik, a 1921 American silent romantic drama film, directed by George Melford, starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres. The building had a seating capacity of 1269 when it first opened, and was described as having "all the conveniences and safeguards humanly possible". By the next month in January 1922, the local newspaper reported that the theatre "was packed to overflowing and hundreds were turned away". The theatre closed for the first time in October 1960, and was then acquired by Kerasotes, who reopened it in 1973 as a first-run movie theatre. Approximately ten years later, it was closed again, and its final reincarnation was as a dollar movie theatre in the early 1990s. The theater finally closed its door permanently in 1997. In the early 2020s, local business owner Suzanne Hightower spearheaded preservation efforts for the long-vacant Broadway Theater building, saving it from demolition. The theater had a major fire March 31, 2021. In 2023, the Cape Girardeau city council voted to redevelop the theater with retail and residential spaces. In 2024, phase one of the project had been completed.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Broadway Theatre listed on the National Register?
Broadway Theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 14, 2015.
What type of historic resource is Broadway Theatre?
Broadway Theatre is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Broadway Theatre?
The period of significance for Broadway Theatre is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Broadway Theatre?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Broadway Theatre will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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