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MAKING HISTORY: Irene Barnes Taeuber, Demographer

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The historical record for Linn County, Missouri has a rich, deep heritage. From unique architecture for small, rural communities to the astounding people, there is great significance in what the people of this small Missouri county have done. Another such person, another contributor to the greater good, was Irene Barnes Taeuber, a famous demographer.

According to Ancestry.com information, her obituary, and the Britannica site about her and her husband Conrad, Irene was born December 25, 1906, in Meadville. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1927. A year later, she earned a master’s degree in anthropology from Northwestern University in 1928, followed by a doctorate in sociology from the University of Minnesota in 1931. In 1929, while still a student, she married Conrad Taeuber who worked in the same field as Irene.

Irene became a world-renowned American demographer, a person who analyzes the populations of certain areas, like cities, states, countries, and regions. In fact, her scholarly work is credited with helping to establish the science of demography, or the statistical study of populations. She and Conrad often wrote together and co-authored two publications considered standard works in the field (Britannica).

Shortly after graduating with her doctorate in 1931, Irene took a faculty position at Mount Holyoke College. Because her husband joined the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (the first relief program under the New Deal—Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan intended to ease unemployment issues by creating unskilled jobs at the local and state level) they moved to Washington DC so her husband could pursue his job.

She joined the Office of Population Research at Princeton shortly after it opened in 1936 and quickly became the first editor of the journal Population Index, staying in that capacity from 1936 to 1954. There is a discrepancy here, though. While her “Obituary” indicates she was in that role until 1954; her Britannica page says she was a research associate until 1961, then the senior research demographer from 1962-1974, the year of her death.

She began working on the journal Population Index of the Population Association of America. When its editor Frank Lorimer left the position in 1935, the journal moved to the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, where it became Population Index, and she moved with it. She was initially a research associate there (part-time while her children were young), and was promoted to senior research demographer in 1961; she retired in 1973 (“Obituary”).

Her specialty was in Pacific Rim/Asian countries. As early as 1947, she and colleagues asserted that the birthrate of 45 per 1000 per year combined with the excessively high death rate (“39 persons out of 1,000 dying per year”) meant that a famine in China due to not enough people to harvest rice would be disastrous (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, 1947).

Fifteen years later, the Star Tribune (1962) cited Taeuber as indicating that the “greatest of many danger spots in the world population of the coming century is the long, fortified, and already vacated frontier zone that separates the Asian Peoples of the southern portion of the geographic continent of Asia from the European peoples of the northern portion of the continent.” In this, she was talking specifically about China’s population growth being an issue for Russia. Taeuber also predicted that China’s population would be at least 4 billion by 2000 (The Newark Advocate, 1962); the population was actually around 1.26 billion in 2000.

In 1965, she amended her assessment and argued that China’s immense population growth could mean they would have a 1-billion-person population by 1980 (The Frederick Post, 1965); it was at 932 million that year. That same year, Taeuber was asked about the world’s land availability and the possibility of there not being enough arable land; she responded that there “are no immediate solutions to population growth, nor can there be any” (Corpus Christi Times; 1965).

The next year, she argued that in Asian “countries the growth of population will be too fast to permit the economic advance with experience has shown leads to lower birth rates” adding that productivity is low, education is minimal, and hunger is prevalent (Jefferson City Post-Tribune, 1966). In 1970, Taeuber admitted that the work pertaining to China’s population is “All of it is guessing. We will have to go on guessing until the Chinese choose to tell us what the situation really is.” This guessing is because China had stopped publishing any meaningful statistics during Mao Tse-Tung’s rule (Las Cruces Sun-News; 1970). Her population warnings extended to the world, too. Taeuber described the world’s population increase “is so awesome as to seem surreal” due to the decline in the deathrate and increase in global birthrates (Florence Morning News, 1966).

She also weighed in on “The Great Migration” of African Americans to urban centers. In 1958, she indicated that “the next major integration victory for Negroes will come in the field of housing in the large American cities” and the same time the mass exodus from southern farmland to urban areas will end (Syracuse Herald Journal, 1958; Chronicle Telegram, 1959).

She died on February 24, 1974, of pneumonia and emphysema.

Beyond her contributions to the study of populations, Taeuber’s obituary indicates that she wrote and edited “a dozen influential books and book-length reports and some 250 articles and chapters.” Her most significant work was the nearly 500-page book The Population of Japan (Princeton University Press, 1958), which “demonstrates the power of demographic analysis … as an instrument for the description of social change.”

Taeuber was also elected as a Fellow by the several statistics organizations, including the American Statistical Association (1960) (“List of ASA Fellows”, 2016), which also gives out the Irene B. Taeuber Award for research achievements in population studies. Additionally, she was awarded two honorary doctorates, one by Smith College in 1960, and another by Western College for Women in 1965 (“Obituary”).

This blog is a reproduction of my column found in The Linn County Leader (Missouri).  No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

UPTOWN THEATRE: National Register Plaque Dedication Ceremony

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On September 14, 2023, we joined the Uptown Theatre and the city in presenting the theatre owner with a plaque commemorating the placing of the Uptown Theatre on the National Register of Historic Places.

We had about 40 people present for it, including two city officials. Alas, no Marceline Historical Preservation Commission board members were present.

Watch the CEREMONY.

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MAKING HISTORY: Dorothy C. Stratton, A Pioneer in Women’s Opportunities

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 It is nice to see the diversity of people who’ve made a lasting impact on the world, especially when those individuals come from rural lands and humble beginnings. Captain Dorothy Constance Stratton is one of those individuals.

On 24 March 1899 in Brookfield, Stratton was born to Baptist minister Reverend Richard L. Stratton and Anna (Troxler) Stratton. Stratton was a highly esteemed woman in a man’s world; she was a pioneer for women obtaining several firsts for women during her lifetime.

While being born in Brookfield, her family moved a great deal and she went to school in Lamar, Missouri, nearly four hours south southwest of Brookfield (Purdue obituary) and finished her K-12 schooling in Blue Rapids, Kansas.

The 25 November 1942 The Brookfield Argus discussed her connection to the Brookfield area stating that “Early in her teaching career, Miss Stratton taught history in the Brookfield high School where she was a very efficient teacher and strict disciplinarian, but very popular with her students because of her…understanding of their youthful problems.” During this time, she lived in Laclede, “just across the street from General Pershing’s birthplace” (Linn County Budget-Gazette, 10 February 1943).

The 4 January 1951 Brookfield Daily News article, “Name Former Brookfielder National Girl Scout Leader”, elaborated on Stratton’s accomplishments, noting she “taught in the local high school the year of 1918-19 before graduating from Ottawa University [Ottawa, Kansas] in 1920.”

Her initial jaunt into pioneering came shortly after earning her Ph.D. from Columbia in student personnel administration. In 1933, she joined Purdue University’s (Indiana) staff and became an Assistant Professor of Psychology as well as the first full-time Dean of Women (Indiana Commission for Women obituary; Purdue obituary).

Nine years later, shortly after graduating as one of the first WAVE officers trained at Smith College at the peak of World War II, she assisted in early enlistment of WAACs. Stratton was also tasked with setting up the radio school for the WAVES at Madison, Wisconsin. She did such a good job organizing the program that, “in Madison one Saturday…she received a communication from the navy to take the fastest transportation to Washington… Nothing was said about why. Just come” (The Star Press (Muncie, IN); 4 December 1942). When she arrived, she was shuffled off to meet with the commandant and three admirals. During the meeting, “The commandant said: ‘Organizing a Coast Guard women’s reserve is your job. How soon can you do it?’” (The Star Press).

This is about the time she was assigned as the “director of the SPARS (Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard) from 1942 to 1946, with the rank of captain” (Brookfield Daily News). The term “SPARS” comes from the Coast Guard motto: “Semper Paratus – Always Ready.”

Shortly after taking on her new office, she stated to an AP reporter that, “What women do now is important for the future…because ‘if we make good now, new avenues will open after the war.’ She is convinced too that ‘This war has vital implications for women. I’d hate to live in a Hitler world’” (The Star Press).

After World War II ended, she retired from that position having enlisted more that 10,000 women and 1,000 commissioned officers as SPARS during the war. Six months later the SPARS program was mothballed (DVIDS Hub).

Her accomplishments didn’t stop there.

After retiring as the SPARS director, Stratton became the first director of personnel at the International Monetary Fund (1947-1950), not the first woman director, but the first ever director. She then became the executive director of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (1950-1960), during which time she appeared as a guest challenger on the gameshow “To Tell the Truth” (Military History Fandom). Adding to her resume, at the age of 62, she became the representative of the International Federation of University Women to the United Nations, then, from 1962 until her retirement, she chaired the women’s committee within the President’s Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. (Journal & Courier [Lafayette, IN] obituary, 19 September 2006; DVIDS Hub).

Her awards are plentiful: Ottawa University bestowed an honorary degree on her for her “outstanding work in guidance of young women” (The Star Press); she also received one from Smith College, Bates College and Purdue. She was also awarded the Legion of Merit or her contributions to women in the military. That citation reads in part, thusly: This award is bestowed upon Captain Dorothy C. Stratton “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Director of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, Captain Stratton was primarily responsible for originating policies for the procurement, training, utilization, and maintenance or morale of members of the SPARs” (Valor.Militarytimes.com).

Additionally, in 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL-752) was named for her.  One of only three cutters named after a woman since 1980 (Military History Fandom).

Stratton died at the age of 107 in West Lafayette, Indiana at 6:48 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006. She had lived in the same house with her former colleague and friend Helen B. Schleman, who’d worked with Stratton at Purdue in women’s studies and then under Stratton while in SPARS. They were roommates from 1985 until Schleman’s death in 1991 (Purdue obituary).

Marian_Ainslee_-_Dec_1926_Variety

MAKING HISTORY: Marian Ainslee, Hollywood Royalty

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There is Hollywood royalty from Marceline. No. I’m not talking about Walt Disney. This person was born in Marceline and had a career in movies long before Walt, but they may have known each other. Her name was Marion Ainslee, a prolific Hollywood feature film writer.

Not much is known about her personal life, but research on Ancestry and RootsWeb show that Marian was born to Edward J. Conklin and Agnes Ainslee in 1896. She had an elder brother, Henry Conklin, who was born in 1893 and is buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Marceline.

She left Marceline at some point to take a job in Jefferson City interviewing senators; she then tried her hand at reporting in Kansas City. She would have been under 20 years old at this time. She decided to move to Los Angeles and write for movies. She took a job as a continuity person in Los Angeles (The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN), 9 March 1930). In 1924, she married Albert Coonley, who was listed on the marriage certificate as a writer. They divorced in Reno, NV on 5 September 1931. She appears to have never remarried.

Ainslee had a long and storied Hollywood career. The Motion Picture Studio Directory & Trade Annal, 1921 lists Ainslee as a scenario writer, editor and title writer who started out as a newspaper reporter and special writer in Kansas City and St. Louis. She held two of the most important positions on a production set: Continuity and writing. It was her responsibility that every take was the same. If, for example, the actor had their coat over their right arm, it was her responsibility to ensure that’s where it was [in the same position and location] in the next take (The South Bend Tribune, 9 March 1930).

She later became a title writer, the person who wrote the dialogue of silent movies. The importance of this position cannot be overstated. As a 1927 Casper Star-Tribune article notes, a bad title writer could tank the movie. If jokes weren’t snappy or a title was too long, it detracted from the movie. As Ainslee stated in her 26 December 1925 interview with the Zanesville Times Signal (Zanesville, Ohio): “The screen subtitle to be perfect, must have three points: It must be short, it must be to the point, and it must not call attention to itself.”

She was quite well known as early as 1920 (when she would have been about 24). The 22 November 1920 Oklahoma City Times wrote, “Marian Ainslee, who is known for many sprightly titles, has joined the Bobbed Hair club at the company’s west coast studios.” (I’ve yet to find any information on the “Bobbed Hair club”.)

Ainslee was mentioned in several news articles across North America. She was, it seems, extremely well known and respected for her work.

In 1922, Ainslee was part of a “laboratory” on a train for the movie “Foolish Wives.” This lab was “the first time in history of moving pictures [that] a baggage car of the Union Pacific railways was fitted up as a film laboratory, so that the work of editing and cutting [“Foolish Wives”] would not be interrupted by the five-day journey from California to New York” (Calgary Herald, 11 September 1922).

Late 1925 was problematic for Ainslee. The Los Angeles Times repeated the same story on her two days in a row (13-14 September 1925). She ended up in St. Catherine’s “recuperating from a severe case of stomach trouble.” She was out of work for three weeks, returning to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on October 14 to resume her important work. Less than two months later, she was strutting on the Red Carpet getting mixed reviews for her outfit. She was “very startling in a white silk wig…some envious glances and some smart cracks…such is always the case” (Los Angeles Record, 6 November 1925). Her life was often put on display, as is the case with all those in Hollywood with some reputation.

She seemed to enjoy traveling the world, too. In 1926, the Los Angeles Record and the Los Angeles Times made note that she “was trying to arrange her work so that she can leave for Europe on a vacation soon” (Los Angeles Record, 9 January 1926). The Los Angeles Times reported a couple of weeks later that Ainslee had left for Europe for a vacation that “will extend for several months.” She was to spend much of her time in France, but also visit other countries.

Eventually, thanks to a new rule regarding movie credits, her name started to be seen on ads for movies. The Casper Star-Tribune (18 December 1927) noted that “Quite often one will see a picture that has excellent titles, and one wonders who wrote them… Only the stars and the directors and on rare occasions, the author get credit for a picture…. But the title writers can just about make or break a film. Snappy, wise-cracking lines have saved many a comedy and dull, lengthy subtitles have just as often ruined excellent drama.”

They go on to say that “There is a report now that title writers are to come in for a share of the glory. That’s fine. Here’s an example of how the title writer’s light is kept under a bushel. Who is Marion [sic] Ainslee? Only one chance in a million that you actually know. Miss Ainslee has just finished titling her 200th picture. Two hundred!” At least one of those movies, “Wonder of Women”, was shown at the Cantwell Theatre (the predecessor to the Uptown Theatre) in 1929. Due to how ads were done back then and that sometimes there were not ads for months, it’s difficult to say how many of her movies were shown, but it’s more than likely that the people of Marceline enjoyed a few of her movies and may not have even realized her important hand in them.

Soon after this announcement, her name did start appearing on movie ads.

She retired briefly in 1936 after the death of producer Irving Thalberg, someone with whom she’d worked closely for 10 years. The 1 August 1937 Baltimore Sun reported that she’d been on a European vacation when he died, but she “was induced only recently to return to her typewriter” by RKO. She was signed to write the next Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film.

She died in Los Angeles on 2 April 1966.

What makes Ainslee’s accomplishment even more astounding is that so few women are writers in Hollywood, even today, according to the Woman and Hollywood website, only about 33% of all Hollywood writers are women.

A NOTE OF THANKS: I’d like to thank Hank Miller, who I met through the Marceline Memories Facebook page, for his assistance with finding much of Ms. Ainslee’s genealogical history.

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MAKING HISTORY: The Uptown Theatre, Part 2

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After the Hey Day of theater competition in Marceline during the 1930s, things changed a great deal. World War II made sure of that.

1940s Era

World War II had just started when Glen Dickinson’s partner, H. J. Griffith bought him out to become the sole owner of the Uptown Theatre in April 1940. Griffith updated the equipment and continued the tradition of community-based entertainment, first-run movies, and added even more community outreach programs, many a direct result of World War II. For example, the theater hosted the “Miss Marceline” beauty pageant and various dance contests, like the “Big Negro Jitterbug Contest” on New Year’s Eve 1940 to give the community a different focus than the war the U.S. was supporting but hadn’t officially entered yet.

 

As part of the theater’s community involvement, the Uptown began showing anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese news reels. It also sponsored aluminum collection programs, ‘March of Dimes’ fundraisers, sold Defense Stamps, was approved as an official issuing agency for the sale of war bonds, held war bonds rallies, hosted benefits for veterans, did a fashion show, had a benefit for raising kitchen fat, held an amateur night for aspiring showbiz folks, and hosted a cooking show.

 

Community-based events continued through the 1940s. In 1941 around the time the U.S. officially entered World War II, for example, manager David Dallas had a “woman’s friendly neighbor program” that included “book readings, musical numbers, lectures and other features of particular interest to women”. The first of these was for the Daughters of the American Revolution. During this decade, the theater continued to host community fashion events, beauty contests, and rallies.

 

After the end of World War II, a 1946 advertisement confirms the theater was still showing first-run features like “A Thousand and One Nights” with roughly a 6-month delay in the showings, presumably due to the movies being shown in metropolitan areas first.

 

Plays, indoor sporting events, concerts and similar entertainment continued to be held at the high school during this period.

 

But the Uptown remained a steadfast, important part of life in Marceline and the surrounding areas. It played a significant role in helping the U.S. war effort through to the end of the war. After that, regrettably, the theater became just a regular part of the community.

 

1950s – 1970s

In 1951, the Uptown Theatre was sold to Louis Higdon, a former manager of the theater. By all accounts, it doesn’t appear he did much with the theater, but I know from speaking with Marceline residents in person and on the Facebook page “Marceline Memories”, that the newspaper and other media failed to publicize the theater.

 

Despite the sudden media blackout on the theater, the Uptown remained the only movie theatre in town until October 12, 1952, when the Star Drive-In theater opened at the corner of Missouri State Roads 36 and 5, approximately three miles north of the Uptown Theatre. The drive-in held 300 cars and closed in 1977. The Star was seasonal; thus, the Uptown continued as the only local place to see movies year-round and the sole place during the winter.

 

Four years after the drive-in theater opened, the Uptown Theatre hosted a movie premiere by Marceline’s most famous former resident: Walt Disney. In 1956, Walt and his brother Roy Disney held the Midwest premiere of The Great Locomotive Chase in Marceline attracting thousands to the city.

 

Throughout the 60s and 70s, the only two venues that existed in Marceline for films were the Star Drive-In and Uptown Theatre. The nearest other theaters that were advertised in Marceline’s newspaper were the Lin-Vi Drive-In in Brookfield, MO and the year-round Macon Theatre in Macon.

 

During this time and after, the Uptown continued its role as a center of the community, continuing as a place for films and various gatherings, though there appears to be only one notable event at the theater of note occurring after the 1970s: the Disney’s premiere of the Spirit of Mickey in 1998.

 

The stories I’ve heard from locals about their time at the Uptown Theatre have been wonderful. The number of people who had their first date there, or who remember “The Tingler” one owner (Basil) had rigged up for the Vincent Price movie. From what Hank and others have told me on the Marceline Memories Facebook page, Basil would walk up and down the aisles and knocking the boys’ feet off the chairs, or two ladies named Mary Belle and Ivorine, or the tales of people who used to live in the apartments above the theater, have been eye-opening. It is a place that is deserving of historic preservation for reasons that go far beyond Walt Disney. From its rocky beginnings with legal battles and a direct competitor to helping with the World War II war effort to it making memories for so many people, it is a place that brought the community together for decades and generations.

Composer of the Year

MAKING HISTORY: Doris Akers, Miss Gospel Music

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Doris Akers

MAKING HISTORY: Doris Akers, “Miss Gospel Music”

Linn County has more entertainment royalty than one might realize. We all know of Walt Disney’s connection to the county, and earlier we discussed Marian Ainslee, the woman who wrote the title cards for more than 200 feature films, but did you know Linn County is also home to one of the greatest Gospel singers in the country? Brookfield needs to have a yearly celebration of their Gospel superstar.

Doris Akers (May 21, 1923 – July 26, 1995) was a biracial gospel music composer, arranger and singer. According to Bil Carpenter, author of Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia, Doris was “one of the most underrated gospel composers of the 20th century [who] wrote more than 500 songs.” So influential was she in Gospel music that she became known as “Miss Gospel Music”.

Growing Up

Doris Akers was born in Brookfield on 21 May 1923. Her parents, Floyd and Pearl, an interracial marriage, were married in 1909, nearly 60 years before Loving v. Virginia. She had nine siblings. Floyd and Pearl divorced about three years after Doris was born. Doris and some of her siblings went with her mom and her new husband and lived in Kirksville for a while. According to Christian Broadcast News’ “Honored by the Smithsonian: “Sweet, Sweet Spirit”, Doris “learned to play the piano by ear at age six and by age ten had composed her first song. By the time she was twelve, she had organized a five-piece band that played music of the 1930s.” According to the Kirksville Daily Express and Kirksville Daily News, she even performed in her Lincoln School Minstrel Show 1932.

 

Early career

When Doris was only 22, she moved to Los Angeles, where she encountered a thriving gospel music community. According to CBN, a year after moving to Los Angeles, she joined the Sallie Martin Singers as pianist and singer. Two years later, she partnered with Dorothy Vemell Simmons to form the Simmons–Akers Singers. At the young age of 25, Doris also launched the Akers Music House publishing firm.

According to ASCAP documentation and the California Eagle, in 1958, along with her friend Mahalia Jackson, Doris co-wrote the song, “Lord, Don’t Move the Mountain”, which sold over a million records.

In the same year, Doris became director of the Sky Pilot Choir, a racially integrated choir. The choir was often featured on recordings, television shows, and radio broadcasts across the country. Her modern arrangements of traditional Negro spirituals drew large crowds, and she was credited with the boom in church attendance.

In 1961, the California Eagle announced that Doris won the Gospel Composer of the Year award.

After leaving the Sky Pilot Choir in 1965, Doris recorded for RCA Victor into the mid-sixties, cutting popular albums like “Forever Faithful” (1963), the The Statesmen Quartet collaboration “Sing for You” (1964), and “Highway to Heaven” (1965).

She moved to Columbus, Ohio in 1970 but continued touring and recording.

So beloved was Doris that “Doris Akers Day” was held in Kirksville, Missouri in July of 1976. She was the headline act of the city’s American Bicentennial celebration. Estimates put the crown attending the concert at about 20,000.

Incredibly, during the 1980s, Doris issued a new gospel album every year on a regional Midwest label. In order to let buyers know they had the current album, she covered each new one with a new color photograph of the artist.

In the United States she began recording for the Gaither label and appeared at some of their concerts and in TV productions. In the early 1990s she was featured in Bill Gaither’s gospel videos Old Friends, Turn Your Radio On, and Precious Memories (Hymnology Archives).

In 1992, Akers was honored by the Smithsonian Institution as “the foremost black gospel songwriter in the United States.”

She became known as “Miss Gospel Music” because of her long, storied career and the fact she had mastered every aspect of gospel music including vocals, keyboards, choir directing, arranging, composing and publishing. Throughout her career she worked with many of the pioneers of the Golden Age of Gospel Music, authored many standard gospel compositions, and moved freely and successfully in all spheres of gospel music. Many of her compositions sold millions for other gospel artists and evangelists (Hymnology Archive).

Prior to her death, she had won five Grammy’s for gospel singing, one more that her friend Mahalia Jackson.

 

Her Final Years

According to multiple sources, Doris lived out the final years in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving as Minister of Music at Grace Temple Deliverance Center. She had traveled all over Canada and the United States and has been credited with over 500 songs. Sadly, spinal cancer was discovered when she visited the doctor after breaking her ankle. She died nearly a year later, on July 26, 1995, in Edina, Minnesota.

She was posthumously inducted to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2011 Doris Akers was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

In the end, Miss Gospel Music proved to be a powerhouse in Gospel music. Her life deserves to be honored more than it is now. It would be incredible to see Kirksville bring back Doris Akers Day or for her hometown of Brookfield to take up that mantle.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

 

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MAKING HISTORY: The Uptown Theatre, Part 1

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MAKING HISTORY: The Uptown Theatre, Part 1

DISCLOSURE: I wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Uptown Theatre in Marceline. It qualifies for the Register in two ways: Architecture and Entertainment (but NOT associated with Walt Disney). On 14 April 2023, I presented it to the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. It will soon be in the final step: consideration by the Keeper of the National Register.

The Uptown Theatre is well known in the county. Perhaps you went to a movie there when you were younger. Maybe even your first date. You likely also know about the two Disney films that premiered in the theater—the 1956 Midwest premiere of Walt Disney’s The Great Locomotive Chase and the 1998 premiere of The Spirit of Mickey. But these premieres are simply footnotes in the theater’s marvelous history. It has a much more interesting existence and story than its flirtation with the Disney Corporation.

The Uptown Theatre is a 286-seat theater with a raised stage, apartments on the second and third floors, and storefronts in the north and south bays of the façade. If you’ve been in town in the last year, perhaps you have even enjoyed a coffee at Café Marceline.

PRE-UPTOWN HISTORY and CONSTRUCTION

In October 1924, A.B. and Ivah Cantwell bought the Snappy Theatre, housed in the north side of the theater, next to a Kaiser-Koch clothing store that occupied the south portion of the original dual-purpose building. Cantwell remodeled the Snappy Theatre and renamed it the Cantwell Theatre within the first year of owning it.

In 1929, Cantwell purchased the clothing store and started building his new theater. While local contractor Fred Wolfskill was erecting the new theater, Cantwell took over the lease of the Cater Opera House to continue showing movies until his new theater was complete. According to newspaper accounts, Cantwell and Wolfskill gutted much of the circa 1894 building housing the Snappy Theatre and Kaiser-Koch store. The Marceline News reported that “virtually all of the old Kaiser-Koch and Cantwell Buildings will be torn down.” There is some evidence that suggests the party walls of the circa 1894 building (the walls abutting the buildings on either side of it) were incorporated into the new building.

Originally, the theatre was to have a seating capacity of 550 with a balcony holding an additional 200 seats to be built later. However, no balcony was built, and the theater was finished with a seating capacity of 286.

During construction, the theater was renamed the Dickinson Theatre when Glenn W. Dickinson, a regional theater chain magnate, leased it from Cantwell. It opened as Dickinson Theatre on June 30, 1930.

ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE 1930s

Prior to the Uptown Theatre, Marceline had the Cater Opera House for all major entertainment events, such as movies, plays, dances, and sporting events like boxing. According to local newspaper accounts, while leasing the Cater Opera House Cantwell showed films there until the grand opening of the Dickinson Theatre. Within two years of the Dickinson Theatre’s opening, the Cater Opera House temporarily closed. For what reason was not reported. The Cater would quickly re-open, but only as a place for large gatherings like dances and meetings. It operated in that capacity until 1957 when it burned down.

1930s Era

When the Dickinson Theatre opened in 1930, it showed first-run movies, held dances and rallies, and hosted vaudeville acts, beauty contests, and community-based parties. These events combined with the first-run feature films made the theater an integral part of the community. The Cater seemed to be only for dances, plays, and indoor sporting events like boxing.

One example of non-feature film entertainment designed to bring in crowds was a vaudeville act booked shortly after opening in 1930. The theater hosted a “Twin Party” featuring “Siamese twins”, a famous vaudeville act at the time.

The theater opened on 20 June 1930 with an R.C.A. sound system with “improved Simplex design” projector lamps “assuring a perfect picture [with] perfect sound.” The Marceline News reported that the grand opening of the theater had over one-thousand people in attendance.

For the next six years, the Dickinson Theatre ran unopposed as the only place for first-run films and community entertainment, like fashion and style reviews and holiday parties.

But a theater war was on the horizon…

The lack of comparable competition ended in 1936 when A.B. Cantwell canceled Dickinson’s lease. This was big news in town and may have had something to do with the lawsuit a woman had filed against Dickinson a year or so prior; she alleged he broke off their engagement and sued him. The Marceline News was more than happy to let the community know about the drama. Cantwell leased the theater to R. C. Jones, who remodeled the theater and reopened it on 29 August 1936 as the Uptown Theatre.

Dickinson vowed to open a competing theatre within the year and as promised, he opened a new Art Deco-style theater, the Chief Theatre, within the year. It was located at209 N. Main St. U.S.A., about two blocks north of the Uptown. This started a three-year battle between the two theaters.

During the three years’ war between the Uptown and Chief, the theatres fought for Marceline movie supremacy. Based on ads and news articles, it appears the Uptown was the more dominant. The Uptown continued to show first-run movies, hold beauty contests, throw holiday parties, and be a community centerpiece, whereas the Chief advertised only one holiday party and movie ads were sporadic.

In 1938, the Uptown Theatre became a unit of the Commonwealth Theatre company, the largest independent theatre operator in the Kansas City territory. This meant the Uptown could book movies earlier than before; now patrons would be seeing new releases even sooner, again one-upping the Chief.

Something odd happened between the time the Uptown became a Commonwealth theater and 21 July 1939. On this day, it was announced the Griffith-Dickinson Theater Group, the largest independent theatre circuit in the United States, had bought the Uptown Theatre and would take over operations on 22 July 1939. Dickinson claimed the Uptown would be closed. However, after the merger, references to the Chief Theatre virtually disappeared. It seems the new manager of both the Chief and Uptown decided to only keep the Uptown open. The Chief officially closed in September 1939. It’s not clear why it closed, and the Uptown remained, though. The Chief burnt down in February 1942 under what might be called suspicious circumstances. It never re-opened as Dickenson promised. Again, as the only theatre in town, the Uptown Theatre continued as the entertainment Mecca of Marceline. And in the 1940s the theater was ready to help the War Effort. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

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DISPELLING MYTHS ABOUT HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

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DISPELLING MYTHS ABOUT HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

In major cities, too often historic properties are razed to make way for “progress”. However, rehabbing a historic property is more cost-effective and fiscally better for the community than tearing it down and building a modern monstrosity.

This time, I’m dispelling myths about historic preservation:

Myth #1: “Preserving doesn’t do anything for the community. It just saves an old building.” FALSE. There are several fiscal benefits to preserving historic resources.

First, tourism will increase when the community has historic status. Heritage tourism is the fastest growing and most profitable sector of the tourism industry. While Walt Disney and General Pershing are certainly attractions in Linn County, they don’t keep tourists in town. But beautiful old buildings with stories do.

Heritage tourists spend roughly $150 more per day in the community than other tourists. This is because they tend to walk around the city and shop at businesses while looking at the property’s interior. Other tourists tend to not do this.

Revitalizing historic resources also equates to more jobs in the community. Several studies show that rural communities that revitalize their historic resources employ 5-10 more LOCAL people per property. That means residents are getting jobs and their earnings go back into the community.

When a resource is designated as historic, either by the local government or the state and/or federal government, property values increase by as much as 25%. Studies show that non-historic properties in the immediate surrounding area of the historic property increase on average of 5%.

But there’s more: Revitalizing makes the community more attractive to businesses and new homeowners.

MYTH #2: “Having your property listed on the National Register of Historic Places means you lose control over your building and the government can tell you what to do.” Inaccurate. The only thing the Register indicates is that your property is a national landmark. While the government would prefer you maintain the historical integrity of the property, there are no regulations about what you can do to the building. None.

MYTH #3: “Local historical ordinances will limit what I can do with my property.” This is partially true. It all depends on what the ordinance says. Some ordinances simply state something to the effect of, “Before making changes to your façade, the plans must be inspected” or “No non-historic awnings are allowed.” Others are more in-depth. Not all ordinances are the same.

MYTH #4: “It’s too expensive to do a Register nomination application.” For some it is expensive; some of my colleagues charge $20,000 for one building regardless of size. Others charge $3000. Every preservation consultant I know takes payment plans and works within your budget. The upfront costs can be off-putting, but here’s the reality: The owner can invest no additional money and let their historical property continue to crumble, thus losing out on all the financial benefits, or they can invest a minimal amount of money to get on the Register. Once they’ve invested that money, they become eligible for funds to fix the property, have increased their property value, will reap significant tax benefits (upwards of 20% in some areas) and have something tourists marvel at. In other words, shortsightedness hurts everyone.

MYTH #5: “I lose full control of my property forever if I sign a historical easement.” Generally incorrect. Signing over a preservation easement or covenant does mean you lose some control. But depending on the easement, you may retain full control over the internal aspects of your property and get full control after a couple of years, though most are perpetual. A preservation easement is designed to hand over some modicum of control to a third party who will inspect and approve alterations. Normally, these easements are part of a grant. For example, if you are awarded a $40,000 grant, it might stipulate that to get that free money, you must sign a preservation easement over to a qualified nonprofit like the Midwest Historical Preservation Foundation. During this time, depending on how the easement is structured, you’ll need to ask permission to do certain types of work to your property. This does not include actions like general maintenance like mowing and painting. It governs such things as installing a non-historic theater marquee, putting up non-historic awnings, or patching the façade with non-historic material.

THE IMPORTANCE & BENEFITS of HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

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The Importance and Benefits of Preserving History

On the back roads is where history was made. History is the Oregon Trail, pioneers, Indigenous peoples, the railroads, Route 66. It’s the folks who came out west and formed small towns, fought through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. We know a lot about the Oregon Trail, but we don’t know what came out of it, what towns, inventions, buildings, and so on. We know of history. Rural history is too often untold, much of it forgotten, because it’s rural America and most people seem to assume nothing happens or happened in rural America. But the communities are where important history was made yet forgotten to most.

It’s important to dwell on the past in certain ways. It is important to understand where we’ve been and what we can become. In some ways, this is a similar philosophy as Walt Disney’s. But unlike Disney, historians know that the past gives us our understanding of how to move forward, so it should be saved and constantly revisited.

Communities across the country have pushed hard to find the funds to preserve their history, propelling them into the future. Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, for example, didn’t always have the downtown tourism Mecca they have now. Around 2007, the city hired a consulting firm to help them understand how they could make their historic downtown a prospering attraction unto itself. Today, the downtown is its own attraction. Mark Twain is an undeniable draw, but the city had to transform their downtown to be able to reach the future it envisioned. They had to work hard, use their strengths, find the answers, work within their limited budget, and most importantly, Hannibal’s residents had to believe that reviving their downtown would benefit everyone, even if business owners lost control of their façades because of city regulations.

And it worked.

Twain draws people in. The town, its heritage, and its festivals keep tourists there longer to spend more money. Without fail, I stop in Downtown Hannibal on my way to and from Marceline to enjoy a drink and when the weather is nice, I sit outside among the historic buildings and enjoy the ambiance. That’s what revitalization does. It has the effect of slowing people down, so the stay longer and spend more money. There’s absolutely no reason for me to stop there on the way to and from Marceline. I stop because I enjoy the antiquated feeling and ambiance of the city.

Even Hannibal had to pinch pennies to make it happen. They didn’t have unlimited funds to do that. Instead, they relied on the community, particularly the downtown business owners to do what was right for the city. They pushed and pushed, just as Marceline is doing today, and made efforts to revitalize their downtown and several other historic buildings. The plan was simple, and it worked: Twain would bring in the tourists, and the history and architect would keep them there, spending more money and extending their stay. In many ways, Twain is simply a footnote in Hannibal’s history now, as Disney is for Marceline.

This is why I enjoy hanging around Marceline, particularly the Marceline Carnegie Library. I see the city as a phoenix, as a city on the verge of its next great Renaissance. This next rebirth is not as a railroad subdivision stop, or a coal town, or the childhood hometown of Walt Disney, but as its own, unique heritage tourism attraction. I see a city that takes us back to a simpler time and when people built things to be both attractive and to last 100 years (like the Masonic Temple, First Christian Church, and Carnegie Library in Marceline). There are several buildings in Marceline alone that are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (full disclosure, I’m working on the nominations of two of those: Uptown Theatre and the Masonic Temple.). There are several in Brookfield, Missouri that might be eligible. The same goes for other rural communities. Your history matters.

Heritage tourism is a booming business. Those who travel to learn about history spend $175 per DAY more than regular tourists. For a place like Marceline, that means that if the buildings currently eligible for the National Register of Historic Places were revitalized and the city advertised for heritage tourists, they could bring in a significant amount of extra money; we’re looking at $20,000 as a conservative estimate.

That’s the power of remembering and preserving the past. It leads to a more prosperous future full of new paths, increased curiosity, and money.