For more than 50 years, North Omaha was packed with movie theaters in every neighborhood. Few of them would serve African American patrons without segregating them, but one of them tried. This is a history of the Lothrop Theater.
In May 1914 the Lothrop Theater was opened at 3212 North 24th Street near the intersection of Lothrop Street. Located near Lothrop Elementary School, neighborhood activists protested against the building’s construction because it was too near the school and the Omaha City Council ruled against locating them too close to schools.
In 1926, the entire theater was closed and renovated for several months. One of the innovations at the theater was the introduction of the first automatic electrolaphone in a neighborhood theater in Omaha in 1928.
The earliest owner of the theater was A.H. Bland. William O. Jensen was the first operator, with later ones including J.H. Gaylord, R.P. Kissinger and George McArdle. Healey sold the theater to the Popular Amusement Company in 1930, and in 1935 the Epstein Company bought the theater to join their chain in Omaha. Later Sidney Goldberg owned it until it was closed.
Throughout its existence the Lothrop showed films, eventually moving from silent movies to talkies, and then upgrading its sound system several times. There were also live performances at the theater for more than 30 years, including vaudeville, comedians, musical acts and more.
The Lothrop celebrated its 40th anniversary but was permanently closed soon afterward. After a double feature shown until midnight on December 31st, 1954, the business was permanently closed. Then the building sat empty for several months.
Corinth Baptist Church took on the venue in June 1955, operating there until 1961. That February the City of Omaha closed the building, citing it as an unsafe structure. In July 1961 the congregation moved into the former Immanuel Baptist Church across the street and continued operating for several years afterward.
On December 1961, the former theater-turned-church collapsed in a pile of rubble ending its existence.
Today, there is no sign the Lothrop Theater ever existed and few people remember it.
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MY ARTICLES ON THE HISTORY OF THEATERS IN NORTH OMAHA
LOCATIONS: Grand Theater | Beacon Theater | Ritz Theater | Minne Lusa Theatre | North Star Theater aka Ames Theater | Corby Theater | Alhambra Theater | Suburban Theater | Military Theater | Diamond Theaters | Lothrop Theater
PEOPLE: Frank E. Goff | George P. Johnson
Elsewhere Online
- “Lothrop Theatre” on CinemaTreasures.org
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Such an interesting bit of history. Thank you once again for all your research and sharing it with us.
This article brought back so many fond memories. Specifically, my family lived just a few blocks away from the Lothrop Theater which was also a stone’s throw from Lothrop Elementary grades 1-8. Lothrop Theater also hosted a number of talent shows in a neighborhood that was quickly becoming predominately African American in the early 1950’s. I am also reminded of Reverand Andrew Thompson of Corinth Baptist Church who he and Ms. Thompson held summer bible school there.
Thank you for recapturing the many fond memories of North Omaha.
If you look closer at the first picture background, that building still stands today. Today is an duplex.
I remember the Lothrop very well. During the early 1940’s we lived in a house directly across the alley from the Lothrop; the house and theatre were situated back to back with the alley between. I must have been 7 or 8 and the Lothrop was holding a metal drive collecting scrap metal for the war effort. Kids who brought metal could see a free movie. I was having trouble finding enough metal to qualify for a free movie. and was close to tears. My mother came to the rescue by removing the ornate metal handles on an old cupboard to put me over the top. Today I have an old cupboard just like that in my kitchen. I payed $750 for it ten years ago. There was a house half a block south of ours on 25th Street that had a wonderful garden of Zinnias surrounded by an ornate iron fence.
Thanks for sharing that Donald – sometimes I feel like I’m just catching up to other peoples’ memories. If you have any other places you want me to research and write about let me know – I need more ideas!