The Missouri Theater on the west side of Main between First and 2nd was destroyed in a fire on April 28, 1944. The theater palace was designed in 1926 by the Boller Brothers, who also designed the Missouri theatre palaces in St. Joseph and Columbia. The Cooks had the Boller Brothers design a new Missouri Theater same location, which was torn down in May 2010 Mentioned in the article is Della Behm who had a hair salon in the building and would go on to build the Mary Mary Shopping Center. The image is from the 1935 Northwest Missouri Tower depicting a crowd during Walk Out Day.
Maryville Daily Forum April 29, 1944
Missouri Theater Destroyed by Fire. Spacious Show Place, Erected in 1926 by the Cook Family, Entirely Gutted by Flames After the Second Show Last Night.
Firefighters were unable to stop the flames that started at the rear of the building. The fire, which started soon after the second show ended last night, about 11:30 o’clock, totally destroyed the Missouri theater, leaving only the walls of the 18-year-old building standing. The Eugene Beauty Shop. which was located on the south side of the building. and offices of’ Virgil Rathbun, Maryville, attorney, also were destroyed.
Nothing was saved at the Missouri, which was constructed and opened to the public in September 1926. Some items were taken from the front of the beauty shop and the attorney’s offices and stored outside of the reach of the flames.
The fire started on the stage. The alarm was turned in by Charles Erwin, custodian. Erwin, who sleeps at the theater, smelled smoke as he was getting ready to retire. Heavy curtains, backdrops, and the screen provided ample material for the blaze. And in less than thirty minutes, the flames had eaten their way through the main part of the theater, and firemen were pouring gallons of water on it from the front entrance. The origin of the blaze was still undetermined this morning.
J. Ray Cook, owner and operator of the theater, reported that a major portion of the loss was covered by insurance. Loss: $ 100,000. The office of J. Ray Cook, operator of the Missouri, was totally destroyed, but many of the records were saved.
A small den to the south of the office, which was located in front of the theater on the mezzanine floor, was only partly damaged by the flames, and this morning, Mr. Cook was moving articles of furniture from it. Harold Allen, a city employee and member of the fire department, was taken to Francis Hospital early this morning for treatment.
He suffered hemorrhages. after moving heavy hose lines. Mr. Cook said he was unable to estimate the loss from last night’s fire, one of the most disastrous in Maryville’s history, but he pointed out that the original investment in the building and equipment when it opened in 1926 was in the neighborhood of $ 75,000 to $ 80,000.
Since that time, the installation of new sound equipment at the advent of talkies, air conditioning equipment last year, and additional projectors has probably raised the amount by an additional $15,000. Mr. Cook has moved some furniture into the northwest room of t the Elks’ Club and set up offices. He plans to rebuild as soon as priority permits can be obtained from the government. Fight from the next building. The roof of the building was scathing in forty-foot flames for less than an hour after the alarm, and soon fell in, carrying everything with it and burning more furiously as a pile of debris in the center of the building. Flames were prevented from spreading to the H. H. Mutz building to the north, which is occupied by the Henry Fields Seed store and the Triple AAA and Farm Bureau offices by a twenty-inch fire wall between the buildings.
Maryville volunteer firemen had two hose lines on the roof of the north building and poured thousands of gallons of water into the blazing structure to the south. Smolders This Morning, Firemen were still fighting the blaze at. 10 o’clock this morning. Several hundred Maryvillians, some clad in hastily gathered clothes, others in formals in which they had attended parties, gathered on all sides to watch the fire. A group of Maryville high school students picked themselves an advantageous point, climbing to the roof of the porch of the Elks club and casually hanging their legs over the eaves, acting much as if they were attending a sports event.
Second Theater Fire: The light and power lines of the Maryville Light and Power company run behind the building for the south and west sections of the town, and these were spared extensive damage.
The fire last night was the second serious theater fire in Maryville’s history. The Empire theater, which was located across the street from the Missouri at the present site of the Masonic Temple and the Maryville Electric Light and Power company, was destroyed by fire in December 1925.
Of Spanish Design, The Missouri was built by J. F. Cook and his two sons, J. Ray, the present operator of the theater, and Clarence E, the present operator of the Tivoli theater. When it opened, the Missouri was considered the most modern theater in the area.
It had a seating capacity of 818. The main auditorium seats 540 persons, and the mezzanine, 278. It was designed by 3 Kansas City architects and closely followed the Spanish show-house designs. All the seats were self-rising. a design that had just become popular at that time, and Missouri was the first state to adopt it. This was the second serious fire for Maryville this month. On April 6 fire destroyed the building and equipment of the Heekin Feed and Coal company in a blaze which firemen fought, most of the night after the alarm came in about 2:30 o’clock that morning. Embers Carried West. At the height of the conflagration, the fire department had three streams of water pouring into the inferno.
But the water was of no avail. The flames, after quickly taking the “fly raced eastward through the main auditorium. Thousands of burning embers were carried by the east by southeast wind onto the Gray building to the west and the Mutz building to the north. Fearing that the fire would spread to the Physicians’ building, the physicians and one dentist carried the costly surgical equipment to a safe distance to the south.
Virgil Rathbun carried 3 portions of his law library out to the walk, but didn’t get out all of his books. Miss Della Behm, owner of the Eugene Beauty shop. located in the south office space off the foyer, was en route from Kansas City and didn’t know of the fire until she arrived home. Friends of hers broke down the door and carried out the beauty shop equipment. However, that portion of the building was the least damaged.
Steel Girders Fall. So intense was the heat that the massive steel girders holding the roof became twisted and fell onto the theater’s concrete-sloping floor. The “fly well,” which housed the stage and its equipment, seemed like a furnace belching up large burning embers and great rolls of black smoke when the fire was at its height. The Mutz building suffered smoke and intense heat. The fire department began throwing water into the rear of the building on the stage level, but were soon driven out as the fire spread. No one would attempt to explain the fire’s origin. It started on the stage. On the north side of the stage was the battery of electric switches that controlled the lighting system. Below the stage was the heating system.
There are two other basements in the building, one under each office. Street Blocked. Mr. Cook and his employees were able to retrieve the theater records from the building before the fire spread to the front. The building was constructed of buff colored brick. Left standing this morning was the marquee of the “Missouri,” which heralded the coming of the weekend feature “Casanova in Burlesque.” Even this morning, Main Street, where the theater is located, was closed to traffic for the block between First and Second streets.
Traffic on No. 71 was rerouted because of a fire hose on the street. The fire was perhaps the worst ever to occur on Main Street. Among the damaging fires on Main Street were the Townsend grocery in 1918 and the Empire theater in December of 1925. The Townsend tire occurred in the dead of winter, with the mercury at 14 degrees below zero, and is well remembered by many citizens.
The Empire Theater, owned by the Kuchs family, was destroyed by a fire that started at noon.
