Movie Line 785-242-0777 Office 785-242-5555
OPEN Monday MLK DAY
Buy Tickets Online
Event Rentals We offer packages for every type of event.
Family Gathering
Watch your family home movies or movie of your choice.
Starting at $95.00 an hour
Weddings
We offer theater of your choice , seating of 90 to 125 per theater
Have your name in lights on our Marque
Price is dependent on time and lengh of event, start at $650.
Business Training events
We can help you connect with your team or employees thru big screen movies that are tailered to create ,motivate and instill loyalty.
Contact us for Pricing
BUSINESS TRAINING EVENTS
Use our state of the art projection and sound systems to create the perfect presentation on a 25' screen. use your powerpoint or any other multi-media format to present to audiances of up to 125
Museum Tours
Take your group thru the museum.group rates are available
CIty WIde TOURS
We have tour packages of historic loctions including the Railroad museum can include lunch or dinner or both for your group .
About Us
THE PLAZA CINEMA IS THE OLDEST OPERATING CINEMA IN THE WORLD OWNERSHIP LIST
That's right, since 1905 the Plaza Cinema has been playing (or projecting) motion pictures. Just imagine 100 years ago, a person kind of like you (would be very old now) was sitting in this same theater, watching a motion picture on the big screen! That's magical, that's why we love it here, and that's why we want you to love it too. Be our guest at the Plaza Cinema and discover the historical magic of movies, watch a new release, or watch a film from the past–you could even do all three.Our Movie Memorabilia Museum has new and exciting exhibits all the time–from Elvis's hair to real costumes worn in big motion pictures! Trust me, it's cool.
BELOW IS THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE AND SOURCES PROVING THE HISTORY OF PLAZA 1907
- · Pickrell Buiding 1885 Source: Kansas State Historical Society
Pickrell Buiding 1885 Source: US National Historical Registry
Pickrell Buiding 1885 Source: Copy of United States Department of Interior Approval
1905 Annuls of Ottawa Article Movie Theatre mention upstairs at 213 S. Main moving quickly to 211 S. Main
1907 Ottawa Kansas City Directory Location: Franklin County Historical Society p.36, E.E. Wagner, Mngr. 211 S. Main
1910 Ottawa City Directory pg 58 Crystal Theatre C.J. Clark Propr. 211 S. Main
1913 Ottawa City Directory Crystal Theatre (A.D. Birch) 211 S. Main
1916 Ottawa City Directory 211 S. Main Propr. W.A. Millington (moving pictures)
1917 Crystal Theatre Fire Ottawa Herald Story- March 1, 1917 (copy of story)
1917 Ottawa Herald Article “Washburn & Son are drawing plans for remodeling After fire” (copy of story)
1921 Ottawa City Directory 211 South Main Mgr W.A. Millington
1922 Ottawa City Directory Crystal Theatre 209 S. Main Mgr. G.E. Klock
1926 Ottawa Herald Ad For Movies Playing at Crystal
1926 Ottawa Herald Ad For Movies Playing at Crystal, Ottawa Tele Directory
1929 Ottawa Herald Ad First Talkie Movies at Crystal
1930 Newspaper Story Fox Midwest purchased the Crystal and remodeled
1934 City Building Permit “Plaza” 209 South Main permit for bathroom fixtures
1934 Newspaper Story Front Page “Reconstruction of Crystal is announced by E.D Dorrel Mgr Fox Theatres
1935 Newspaper Story February Grand Opening of remodeled Plaza
1935 City Directory pg 226 Plaza Theatre North Main
1938 City Directory pg 213 209 South Main
1941 City Directory pg 202 Plaza Theatre 209 South Main
1946 City Directory pg 231 Plaza Theatre 209 South Main
1950 City Directory pg 239 Plaza Theatre 209 South Main
1953 City Directory pg 218 Plaza Theatre 209 South Main
1955 City Directory pg 232 Plaza 209 South Main
1957 City Directory pg 141 Plaza Theatre Eugene Sappington Manager 209 South Main
1959 City Directory pg 112 Plaza Theatre Eugene Sappinton 209 South Main
1961 City Directory pg 156 Plaza Theatre Chester A Hylton mgr 209 South
1962 City Directory pg 125 Plaza Theatre Chester A Hylton mgr 209 South
1964 City Directory pg 128 Plaza Theatre Leon Roberston Mgr 209 South
1965 City Directory pg 113 Plaza Theatre Leon Robertson Mgr 209 South
1966 City Directory pg 104 Plaza Theatre Leon Roberson Mgr 209 South
1967 City Directory pg 110 Plaza Theatre Frank Banning Mgr 209 south
1969 City Directory pg 116 Plaza Theatre Joseph Matthews Jr. 209 South
1970 City Directory pg 103 Plaza Theatre Joseph Matthews Jr. 209 South
1971 City Directory pg 104 Plaza Theatre Joseph Matthews JR 209 South
1972 City Directory pg 105 Plaza Theatre Francis Glenn Mgr 209 South Main
1973 City Directory pg 107 Plaza Theatre Robert Clark Mgr. 209 South Main
1974 City Directory pg 120 Plaza Theatre Jerry Mason Mgr. 209 South Main
1975 City Directory pg.113 Plaza Theatre Jerry Mason Mgr. 209 South Main
1976 City Directory pg 122 Plaza Theatre Wayne Zarachary Mgr 209 South
1977 City Directory pg 130 Plaza Theatre Wayne Zacachary Mgr 209 South
1979 City Director pg 133 Plaza Theatre Joe Matthews JR Mgr 209 South
1980 City Directory pg 137 Plaza Theatre Daniel Cope Mgr. 209 South Main
1981 City Directory pg 136 Plaza Theatre Daniel Cope Mgr. 209 South Main
1982 City Directory pg 132 Plaza Theatre Daniel Cope Mgr. 209 South Main
1983 City Directory pg 133 Plaza Theatre Danel Cope Mgr.209 South Main
1984 City Directory pg 142 Plaza Theatre Daniel H. Cope Mgr 209 South Ma
1985 City Directory pg 149 Plaza Theatre Linda Wrisner Mgr 209 south Main
1986 City Directory pg 142 Plaza Theatre Scott Maples Mgr. 209 south Main
1987 City Directory pg 142 Plaza Theatre Steven and Mrs Lee Ann Bagby
1988 City Directory pg 141 Plaza Theatre “
1989 City Directory pg 151 Plaza Theatre “
1990 City Directory pg 148 Plaza Theatre “
1991 City Directory pg 151 Plaza Theatre “
1992 City Directory pg 38 Plaza Theatre “
1993 City Directory pg 40 Plaza Theatre “
1994 City Directory pg 46 Plaza Theatre “
1999 City Directory pg 44 Plaza Theatre Steven Bagby 209 South Main
2000- 2005 Richard Dimoush
2005 -2014 Ted & Rita Madl - 2014 - Present Scott Zaremba scott@plaza1907.com
Come by and visit with Peggy Armstrong Resident Historian & Tour Guide & Manager
Plaza 1907 News
Press release: March 6, 2018
Ottawa movie theater named world’s oldest by Guinness
OTTAWA, Kansas --- The Plaza Cinema in Ottawa, Kansas, which opened May 22, 1907 has been named the Oldest Purpose-Built Cinema in Operation by Guinness World Records. The deco-styled downtown movie theater opened at 211 S. Main St. on May 22, 1907 and still shows current-run movies.
The Plaza’s record beat the previous record holder, the Korsor Biograf in Denmark, which opened in Aug. 1908, by more than a year.
Deborah Barker, who recently retired from the Ottawa Historical Society, uncovered a trove of photographs that indicated the theater was already operating in Ottawa’s early horse-and-buggy days.
Peggy Armstrong, Deborah Barker and film historian Bill Shaffer compiled and authenticated evidence using documents, news reports and photographs from the Franklin County Courthouse, Franklin County Historical Society and Ottawa Library, all in Ottawa, Kansas, and newspapers.com, an online database.
Convincing Guinness was a daunting task that required submitting documentation in the form of articles, movie ads and photographs for every year in the cinema’s 111-year history. It was increatable how thorough and professional the Guinness staff were,”
The extensive evidence required by Guinness led resurchers to discover daily ads that listed the titles of the movies shown in the cinema’s earliest years.
Over the years, the theater changed names and owners and expanded but never moved. It opened as The Bijou and for a time was called The Yale and The Crystal before opening as The Plaza in 1935.
When the cinema opened, tickets cost five cents and usually included two moving pictures and an “illustrated song” performed by a live singer.
Many of the moving pictures were made in France and distributed out of Kansas City. Titles of some of the first movies shown include: “Bad Mother,” “Pay Day Target,” “Nihilist’s Revenge,” “Blind Man’s Dog,” “Rival Brothers” and “Horse of Another Color.”
Behind the current twin screening rooms at the Plaza, in the original stage area, now housing the Movie Memorabilia Museum. Exhibits include a numbered original Edison Kinetoscope, one of the earliest motion picture projectors, movie scripts, posters and props.
November 2015
Plaza Cinema featured in ‘Sunflower Journeys’ Thursday segment
movie poster, movie theaters nearby
Click below to watch story
http://www.ottawaherald.com/5e392a16-240e-5ccc-8c0a-41419a3100ff.html
September 2013
Kansas movie theater discovers it is the oldest operating theater in America
Kansas movie theater discovers it is the oldest operating theater in America
OTTAWA, Kansas-- A movie theater in a small rural town finds it is the oldest operating theater in America -- and maybe in the world.
A recent donation of historic photographs made to the Franklin County Historical Society led executive director Deb Barker to alert Plaza Grill and Cinema theater, 211 S. Main St., that she had some very interesting photographs of the theater from the early days of 1900. That began the research that unraveled more than a century of “Cinemagic” in Ottawa
“Our records document a carnival on Main Street in 1905 that included two tents where movies were being shown. We have a photo of one of the tents on East Second St.” Barker said. “One movie was The Great Train Robbery; the other was about a great bank robbery.
“Later that year the Guardian newspaper recorded many stories about the first regular movie show being opened by Fred Beeler in the current Plaza Theater building,” Barker said. “The newspaper editor apparently was a big movie fan because he wrote many articles about what a wonderful cultural enrichment the movies were and what a fascinating and safe place for children during matinee showings.”
The plan is to re-create the movie theater experience by educating and entertaining guests from across the state and beyond.
“We are in the due diligence phase of assessing the feasibility of capitalizing on this historic jewel sitting in the middle of our downtown,” Sharp said. “We want to create an even greater experience that travels beyond the traditional first-run movie audience.
“We believe the economic impact created by a project of this size will be substantial, which makes it good for everyone.
Area residents are encouraged to share their favorite magical movie memories to be included in a documentary being made that will be one of the many features of the tourist attraction.
Bill Shaffer, producer for Channel 11 -- Kansas Public TV, Topeka, whose father is one of the former owners of the theater. Shaffer plans to produce a film documenting the first movie ever made and short clips of historic films from silent movies to talkies and beyond. We have acquired a number of historical artifacts from the motion picture industry that would be part of a historical components’ exhibit, such as a kinetoscope, peep shows and stereo .
It’s about the impact the theater has had on so many Franklin County lives through the years, It’s about the retreat and escape a person could find here, leaving the world and all of its problems out on the sidewalk. There’s magic in these walls and a history that has so many layers we may never get to the original layer.”
Few other cornerstones in small communities across America offer the historical, emotional and cultural value provided by the local “picture show,” Sharp said.
The attraction, which will include a capital campaign to raise needed funds to make the oldest operating theater in America venue truly spectacular, may include its own Hollywood-like Walk of Fame stars on the sidewalk outside the theater.
“We have a significant artifact right here on Main Street, in the heart of our downtown. We have something that people will travel to see and people would love to hear the story. The only way it can happen is if we all believe and we all get excited about the jewel we have in the center of our community.”
