The Majestic Theater was built in 1910 as a silent movie theater and as a space for local fundraisers and other events. The building was a David Riley enterprise. He partnered in a sash and planing mill, Coad and Riley, and oversaw the development of several Main Street projects. The Majestic was built with stucco over standard brick in the Art Deco style. This style features geometric forms in a relatively simple design. The emphasis falls on symmetry and an unvaried repetition of elements.
In 1918, local entrepreneur John C. Uglow purchased the property and later sold it to George W. Gould Sr., an Idaho schoolmaster who had moved to Dallas in order to participate in the theater business. Gould and his son stook on the responsibility of managing the theater. Later, Mrs. Irene Adam came from Idaho to participate in the family enterprise. Gould Sr. expanded the enterprise by opening the Rio Theater two blocks away on SE Mill in late spring, 1941. From this time on, the histories of the Majestic and Rio would be closely intertwined.
Through the war years, the Majestic showed first-run features while the Rio presented second-run movies and newsreels. Gould died in the mid-1940s and passed the two properties on to his two children. They in turn sold both theaters to a prominent independent cinema operator, Jesse Jones, and thereby ended 23 years of continuous management by members of the Gould family. In December 1945, Don Wernli came on board as manager. Wernli was a respected theater manager in the Portland area and eventually purchased both properties in 1959.
In Spring 1945, the Majestic had been damaged by fire, and with no funds immediately available to repair the damage, the Rio began showing first-run movies and expanded its days of operation to five per week. The Majestic was eventually repaired and continued to operate as a second-run theater through the 1950s. However, by 1959, both theaters had become rundown, with the Majestic being deemed a lost cause. As a result, Wernli stripped the Majestic of everything he could salvage and focused his renovations on the Rio. From 1960 on, the Majestic no longer operated as a movie theater.
Since 1960, the Majestic has gone through several different owners and interior transformations, serving as a church school, a mini mall, a roller-skating rink, a performing arts center, a dance studio and a small concert venue. On July 24, 2008, new owners Kurt and Victoria Brees, opened the building as an event center. Since that time, the Majestic has again experienced a series of different owners but has retained its function as an event center.
The exterior of the theater has remained fundamentally unchanged except for the addition on the south side of the building of a mural by local artist Kev Kohler in 2006 featuring President James Polk and Vice President George Dallas, whom the City of Dallas and Polk County are named after.
KEY REFERENCES:
- National Register Application for the Rio Theater