Movie Line 785-242-0777 Office 785-242-5555
Buy Tickets NOW and make sure you don't miss the movie.
Open Wednesday Thru Sunday
Adults: $8.75 - Children 12 & under: $7.25
Seniors (fabulous at 60+) and Military: $ 7.75
*3D movies add $2.25
Matinees are $7.00 for everyone!
WEDNESDAYS: ALL movies and ALL tickets are $5 each!
Plus Tax
Please come early or stay late to enjoy our museum. Museum Experience starts at 12:00 Wednesday-Sunday
New products are coming soon!
Movie Line 785-242-0777
Office 785-242-5555 Movie Line 785-242-0777
Mon | By Appointment | |
Tue | By Appointment | |
Wed | 12:00 pm – 9:30 pm | |
Thu | 12:00 pm – 9:30 pm | |
Fri | 12:00 pm – 9:30 pm | |
Sat | 1:00 pm – 9:30 pm | |
Sun | 1:00 pm – 9:30 pm |
Rent one Screen or the entire theater. call us at 785-242-5555
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 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.
“We have a significant artifact right here on Main Street". Make plans today and come experience history!
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
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