The Mainstreet Theater opened in 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri, when vaudeville shows were still the talk of the town. The historic theater was built as part of a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters named the Orpheum Circuit. While the theater was also used to showcase the silent beginnings of the movie industry, vaudeville variety shows, like those found at a traveling circus, still wowed audiences. Animal and human performers alike operated in the 3,000-seat theater, which meant the building was home to both an elephant-sized elevator and alleged underground tunnels to the nearby President Hotel. While human performers often stayed at the tunnel-connected hotel, the animals were kept in the basement, awaiting their turn to be brought up to stage level by the freight-style elevator.
After the advent of sound films or “talkies” in 1927, the vaudeville shows of the Mainstreet Theater became a relic of the past. In 1938, the theater shut down, reopening after World War II as the RKO Missouri. Renamed the Empire, the theater remained the same until the early 1960s. Under the new leadership of Stan Durwood, the Empire’s space was split into two, then four, different screening rooms. By 1985, Stan Durwood would develop the nationwide movie theater company AMC, which closed the small theater’s doors. The historic building decayed at the corner of 14th and Main streets until it was rebuilt in conjunction with the new Power & Light District.
The Mainstreet Theatre reopened its doors in April 2009, and a few years later AMC sold the six-plex to the Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin-based company. Alamo Drafthouse ran the theater until COVID-19 pushed the theater chain to the edge of bankruptcy. However, the theater was not going to die just yet. Beginning in 2021, the Mainstreet KC is once again showing movies downtown, all thanks to the locally owned B&B Theatres. Readers can see the theater’s evolution at kansascity.com.
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