MIGenWeb Project  USGenWeb Project

KALAMAZOO  COUNTY, MI

GENEALOGY & LOCAL HISTORY

 

Old Postcards and Photographs of Kalamazoo

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Majestic Theater 1920's
Majestic Theater 1920's

THEATERS & ENTERTAINMENT

View from Kalamazoo National Bank Building - 1908

South Burdick Street - probably 1908, bird's-eye view from the Kalamazoo National Bank Building constructed in 1907 .  The building on the right with the flag is the old  Post Office on the corner South Burdick and South St .  Note the Bijou Theater on the left - it was in business for two years, 1906-1908, as a vaudeville theater.

 

The Majestic Theater on South Street, later renamed the Capitol Theater, featured live acts in its earlier years including The Melody Maids ,all-woman mandolin band was made up entirely of Gibson Guitar Company employees that played in Kalamazoo and surrounding area.  In later years, the theater was for cinema only.
Majestic Theater and Elks Club 1908 1910  Majestic Theater, Elks Temple, and Peck Building - 1912
Showing nearby post office, left foreground - 1912 1914  Theater Ad, Police Souvenir View Book

click on link to see photos !

Orpheum Theater  1911
A film theater, on W. Main near Burdick, that operated until 1949.
 The New Theater on Burdick, 1914
North Burdick St.  1949
 Note the Uptown Theater and Hotel Rickman
F. W. Woolworth, 1940's on South Burdick

click on link to see photos !

Civic Auditorium
1930's 1964 1964 Bronson Park

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Fuller Theater & Fuller Program 1919
Fuller Theater Front View Front View #2
 1920 Advertisement for the Fuller Theater Inside View Back Of Theater
Note topical reference to "Dry's" Prohibition

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State Theater
State Theater, 1940's State Theater, Burdick Street - 2000,  built 1927

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Barn Theater, Augusta, 1963 <---- click on link to see photo !

also see http://www.barntheatre.com/
 Hayloft Theater Portage - 2000
 
THE HAYLOFT THEATRE BARN WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1902.  FROM 1919 INTO THE 1940'S.  THE BARN WAS PART OF A WORKING FARM OWNED BY THE SOLOMON SCHIEDEL FAMILY.  THE BARN WAS PURCHASED IN THE 1940s AND DEVELOPED INTO THE HAYLOFT THEATRE BY MARY AND VERN MEYERS. THE THEATRE WAS CLOSED IN 1952. IN 1992, THE HAYLOFT THEATRE WAS RELOCATED FROM ITS ORIGINAL SITE ON EAST MILHAM AVENUE TO THE CELERY FLATS HISTORICAL AREA PREMIERING THE FIRST NEW PERFORMANCE IN FORTY YEARS ON AUGUST 6.  THE HAYLOFT THEATRE IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF PORTAGE. 
See the Portage Park page
Oakwood Theater and Park, 1909

First established as Lake View Park - "By the turn of the century, summer theatre had become the key attraction at Lake View - so much so that in 1904, the park's name was changed to Casino Park. Vaudeville, light opera and burlesque dominated the bill at Casino Park with occasional feature musical attractions (ragtime was all the rage), minstrel shows and flickering films from a new gadget called the Kinetoscope."

In 1907, Casino park was torn down and completely revamped.  Now called Oakwood, a new dance hall, band stand, nickelodeon theater and boat house were erected, as well as the new park's feature attraction - the "Dizzy figure-8" roller coaster.  Oakwood's dance hall flourished during the "jazz years" with nightly dances greeting capacity crowds during much of the warm weather season. The Kalamazoo community was given it's first introduction to the miracle of radio when a 1922 concert by Fischer's orchestra (see below)  was broadcast from Milwaukee and played to a delighted audience at an Oakwood Park "radio dance."  The park was closed in 1927 -  DEFUNCT PARKS.
Earl Gardner's Band at the Gull Hotel, 1930s or 40s

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Earl Gardner's Band at the Gull Hotel, 1930s or 40s
Fischers Exposition Orchestra 1922 Fischer Edward Pub Coad

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 Kalamazoo's Charles Fischer's Exposition Orchestra
Charles Fischer's brother, Burton owned a music publishing company in Kalamazoo

 

Museography

 Kalamazoo Valley Museum publication

Volume 3 Issue 2 Winter 2004

KALAMAZOO ORCHESTRAS

"And the Band Played On...In the late 1890s, Charles Fischer organized Fischers Globe Trotters, a band that gained not only local but national and international fame as well. It traveled the world, performing in many well-known nightspots as well as on several round-the-world cruises. On a 1930 cruise, Albert Einstein sat in with the band and played violin for several songs. Although the musicians changed, the band played together for nearly 50 years.  Charles Fischers brother, Burton, put Kalamazoo on the musical map as well. An original member of the band, Burton Fischer founded the Burton E. Fischer Publishing Company, a leading publisher of sheet music in the 1930s."

Kalamazoo Songs

"O Kalamozozle - mazizzle
Mazazzle, mazeezle - mazoo
The liquid, harmonious, easy euphonious
Name known as Kalamazoo"

I Gotta Song 'Bout Kalamazoo
in  Museography online magazine

There is only one Kalamazoo It's in the Wolverine state;     
         'In Kalamazoo we do'     From morning to late.

See Winter Water Wonderland Lost Theaters picture of the Michigan Theater

Douglas Avenue drive in theater and Portage Drive in theater

 

Links
1846 County History Kalamazoo Mall
1876 County History Kalamazoo Theater Views
1980 Tornado Kalamzoo Views
 Chronology of Township, Village and City Formation Obituaries from the Pioneer Society Reports
Centennial History and Pageant Program Railroads, Interubans, and Transit History
Historical Markers Index Reminiscences of Kalamazoo, 1832 -1833 by Jesse Turner
History Pages Index Schoolcraft History
Indians in Kalamazoo - Early Letters Vicksburg History Site

 

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