The history of the Iola Theatre

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The Iola Theatre was built in 1931 in the classic Mission Revival style, with nearly 900 seats and state-of-the-art technology for its time.  Generations of southeast Kansans enjoyed films at this beautiful movie house.    

The theatre was built by Iola, Kansas businessman and hotelier Ira D. Kelley, opening August 17, 1931.  The Iola Register account of its construction touted the modernity of its style, rivaling movie houses that existed in places such as Kansas City and New York. Extravagant features such as leather air-cushioned seats, brand-new tile designs, top-of-the-line chandeliers, and a modern ventilation system were some of the modernistic elements of the theater. The grand auditorium was adorned with colorful murals that decorated the walls, with rich velvet drapes and a luxurious lounge on the mezzanine level.  A packed house saw the Clark Gable hit Sporting Blood on the theatre’s opening day in 1931. 

In the decades following its opening the theater showed thousands of films, working to stay competitive and relevant as all the other movie houses in Iola and surrounding communities closed.  Different rounds of modernization occurred in the 1950s and 1970s to keep up with the times.  In 1977, an additional screen was added in the balcony section of the theater allowing for two different movies to play at once. 

The theater was ultimately closed 70 years after its opening when B&B Theaters completed the construction of their Sterling Six Cinemas on the outskirts of Iola in 2001.  At that time the building was purchased by a local faith-based organization and used as a church for over a decade before it was acquired and donated to the Iola Theatre Association.