WENATCHEE’S PIONEERING THEATERS

By Dustin Hays

Let’s set the stage…

It’s 1905, Wenatchee Washington. Everyone’s riding around on horses… the town has less than 4000 residents. The streets are dirt and the sidewalks are wood. The world of popular music is filled with orchestras, quartets, brass bands, ragtime… honky-tonk…

New York’s Billy Murray (not that one) is one of the nation’s most successful recording artists, in February of that year his version of “Yankee Doodle Boy” was released on the Victor label, and was a hit with the youth across the nation.

Edison Cylinders (the earliest way to purchase recorded music) had existed for around 20 years. Records (the disc shape we know today) are a new thing, made out of a form of resin called shellac (vinyl won’t hit for another 26 years). Cylinder and Disc Records are sold locally at The Wenatchee Bazaar (15 N. Wenatchee Ave.), the Wenatchee Phonograph Co.

(corner of Orondo & Mission) or by The Ellis-Ford Company, the town’s first chain department store (14 N. Wenatchee Avenue).

Vaudeville theater was all the rage, traveling theater companies would tour the nation and stop in town for short residencies. As is the case today, in the early 1900s, Wenatchee served as a logical stop between Seattle and Spokane bookings. During the first five years of the 20th century, plays and music performances were held at Haskell-Prowell’s Hall (located on the corner of Orondo and Mission).

Sidenote: Until the 1920s ‘theater’ was spelled ‘theatre,’ particularly in local publications. Nowadays the latter is considered correct with audiences in the UK, with the former adopted by American English speakers. In the interest of uniformity, all mentions will be spelled ‘theater.’

The Wenatchee Theater, the town’s first, was built in 1905 on the north-west corner of Columbia St. and Palouse Ave. Local businessman (and future proprietor of a local music store) O.B. Fuller had paid for the construction the year prior. The build- ing was strategically located across the street from the train tracks, to aid in the loading and unloading of traveling stage companies.

Ed Ferguson and Frank Prewitt (local police deputy and Wenatchee Band leader, respectively) managed the theater, utilizing an out-of-town booking company for entertainment, along with using the building for local school performances, political rallies, and as a rehearsal spot for local productions and music groups.

Ferguson, a member of the Wenatchee Band, became the Chief of the Wenatchee police in 1907, and was elected Chelan County Sheriff the following year. Prewitt had been the leader of the Third Tennessee Regimental Band during the SpanishAmerican War (1889) and directed the Chehalis band for several years before moving to Wenatchee.

Ed Ferguson and his father James (a former Wenatchee mayor, 1898-1899) worked the door, taking tickets and greeting each theater-goer. Local businesses had ad space on the stage’s curtain, and could purchase banner space on the exte- rior of the building.

Since their first year of operation, the Wenatchee Theater had been presenting “moving pictures,” a relatively new attraction, first popularized in the late 1890s. The silent films were accompanied by a live pianist, Ferguson’s wife Louise. Recorded sound wasn’t integrated until the ‘20s.

With a capacity of 600 (compare that to the current Numerica Performing Arts Center - max capacity of 550) the theater was the largest building for public performances in all of Central Washington.

The Wenatchee Theater held its opening event on July 3rd 1905. The first performance given was by The Wenatchee Band, a 14 piece cornet group, at the time the only local ‘band.’

For the remainder of the year, the Wenatchee Theater, or the “Wenatchee Opera House” (as it was occasionally billed in the WW) hosted 34 public events. In the years that followed, the theater continued to be the main room to see live entertainment.

The Wenatchee World reported, in No- vember 1905 that Prewitt sold his ownership in the theater and moved to Seattle. In August of 1906, Prewitt (aged 30) died in a railroad accident, when a train derailed in Montana.

A second small theater, the Horseshoe Theater, opened in town in 1908 at 112 N. Wenatchee Avenue. The Horseshoe, run by local eccentric poet and businessman Louis Michel (truly deserving of his own column) presented moving pictures and come dians to local audiences. The Horseshoe’s occupancy was around 110, tiny compared to that of The Wenatchee The ater. By October of 1908, the Horseshoe had closed, and the Wenatchee Phono graph Co. (another Michel venture, later Michel’s Music Store) opened in its place. 112 N. Wenatchee Avenue now houses the Yogi Grind, cafe & yoga lounge.

In March of 1909, the Gem Theater offered another option to local movie-goers. First open ing in a room inside the Columbia Valley Bank Building (on the corner of Orondo and Wenatchee Avenue), by October they vacat ed the building and re opened on the ground floor of the Olympia Hotel (the corner of Palouse and Wenatchee Avenue, currently occupied by the Gilded Lily Home gift shop). The capacity of the Gem isn’t known, but wouldn’t have exceeded a few hundred people.

Two programs from Wenatchee Theater shows have survived the years. Though these events come from years towards the end of the theater’s popularity, they’re special in that both performances are from local talent, rather than national touring groups.

In 1909, a production featuring amateur local performers was arranged to benefit the Wenatchee Commercial Club. “The Heir Apparent,” a romantic drama, was slated for November 10th. The Commercial Club was a group of local businessmen and orchardists, with the shared interest of profit and expansion for the city. Tickets were sold at the Wenatchee Drug Store, ranging from 50 cents to a dollar. Music for the production was provided by Crollard’s Orchestra, a group of local musicians featuring lawyer brothers Louis and Fred Crollard on violin and piano, respectively.

“The Heir Apparent” was a success, reported proceeds from opening night were $300 - adjusted for inflation, that number would’ve exceeded $10,000. It had been announced during the intermission of the first performance that the production would be extended to a second night.

The 2nd program comes from The Wenatchee High School’s 1912 Senior Class performance of a theatrical opening, the Wenatchee Theater stopped running ads in the Wenatchee World. By this point the Wenatchee Theater was referred to as “The Old Wenatchee Theater,” even in those rare newspaper adverts.

In 1913 it was reported locally that Ferguson was to manage Cashmere’s Grange Theater. Ferguson had also been managing the Majestic Theater in Wenatchee, a room that had opened in early 1912 as the Alcazar Theater, renamed by winter of that year. Unfortunately that theater’s location has seemingly been lost to time.

In Ferguson’s 1947 biography The Wenatchee Kid, author Eva Anderson wrote this on his time with the theater: “Years brought fun, but no great financial gains. In 1914 he built an outdoor theater, but that didn’t pay either.”

Opened in December 1919, The Liberty Theater (1 South Mission Street) boasted an outstandingly large capacity, exceeding 1,000. The Liberty presented similar productions to the Wenatchee Theater, traveling stage companies, live music performances and motion pictures. For some time after opening, the Liberty housed both a beauty shop and an Edison record and turntable dealer, the latter run by H.E. Roberts.

Almost immediately after the Liberty’s

Walter W. Kastner purchased the Wenatchee and Gem theaters from Ferguson and Frank L. Stannard in April of 1919. On March 20th of the following year, Kastner was tragically killed in a pedestrian/automobile accident, while walking on the east corner of Wenatchee Avenue and Yakima Street, he was only 28 at the time. In reports following his death, Kastner is credited as managing the Liberty, Gem and Wenatchee Theaters. Kastner’s brother Louis managed the theaters until early 1922.

In 1921, the Wenatchee Theater was remodeled and renovated, the extent of which is unknown. The last performance date confirmed through newspaper microfilm occurred in November 1921.

Ferguson’s biography The Wenatchee Kid recalled, “‘The Old Wenatchee Theater,’ Ed’s early pride and joy, closed its doors forever. For a time it was used as Isaacson’s Modern Manufacturing company. Eventually it was torn down and the spot now serves as a parking lot behind the Doneen Building.”

Wenatchee’s first theater was closed. In the years following, the Liberty and the Gem Theaters continued to supply local crowds with live performances and motion pictures.

The Rialto Theater, a third local option for entertainment, opened March 15, 1922 at 7 S. Wenatchee Avenue. The reported capacity was 750. As years progressed the Rialto served as a budget theater, closing their doors in 1955. The original domed theater ceiling has remained partially exposed through the years, otherwise the interior has been altered beyond recognition. The building has been vacant since 2018, but most recently housed The Veterans Warehouse Thrift Store.

Mission Street Theater opened in October 1927 (17 South Mission Street, most recently Soloman’s Porch). George Fasken and Charles Greime owned the theater. Fasken had owned Cashmere’s Royal Theater since 1922, in 1931 the pair purchased Omak’s Gem Theater.

Fasken and Greime called for the construction of The Vitaphone Theater in 1930, neighboring the Mission to the south (19 South Mission Street). It was originally reported the building would hold 850 guests, though later numbers show the venue seated 772. Fasken’s wife operated a shortlived music shop inside the Vitaphone, selling sheet music and records.

The Mission seems to have only been active for a few years, disappearing from any mention soon after the Vitaphone’s opening. Since the 1990s, The Vitaphone has been utilized as an extension to Liberty Theater.

This December marks 103 years that The Liberty Theater has lived at its original location on Mission Avenue. For decades now, film has reigned supreme at the Liberty. Local theater productions have found their new home at the Numerica Performing Arts Center, The Riverside Theater, rented out grange halls and in school auditoriums.

The structure that housed the Wenatchee Theater has been a parking lot for most any Wenatcheeite’s lifetime. The parking lot behind the Doneen building was briefly shown in the 1994 film “Surviving The Game,” but otherwise is just another nondescript parking lot on Columbia Street.

Any evidence of that pioneering local theater is hidden away in deteriorating ancient editions of the Wenatchee World, you might stumble upon in your grandparents’ attic.

All told, Wenatchee’s first theater was active for over 15 years. Owned and operated by locals, they set the stage for the generations of theaters, concert-goers and performers that would follow in their footsteps. C