Part 547: The New Auditorium at the Immaculate Conception Academy, 1906
In 1906, Thomas G. Moses recorded that Sosman & Landis provided scenery for “a big contract for Davenport, Iowa.” He was referring to the new auditorium at the Immaculate Conception Academy. This was the Catholic girls’ high school established by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1859. In 1906, a new building joined the main building on the north, replacing the old frame conservatory building. Located at Eighth and Main streets, the new three-story brick building included an auditorium, conservatory of music and gymnasium.
The Quad-City Times,” reported, “The superbly appointed hall, with its stage equaling in width that of the Burtis Opera house and beautiful scenery, painted by the firm Sosman & Landis, of Chicago, delighted the eyes of the patrons of the institution” (Davenport, Iowa, 17 May 1906, page 9). For the opening, the seating hall of the new hall was “taxed to the utmost” with a crowd of 600 or more.
On May 13, the “Quad City Times” noted, “There will be a very fine entertainment given at the Immaculate Conception, on Main Street, Wednesday evening, May 16, for the benefit of the furnishing of the new auditorium. The pupils of the academy and the sisters have gone to much trouble to make this one of the best entertainments ever given, and all who attend will be amply repaid. The staging for the classical drama, ‘Margaret of Anjou,’ which will be given, is very fine, the scenic painting having been done by Sosman & Landis Scenic company of Chicago, and the chief artist put his best efforts in the work, feeling a personal interest in its success, as his wife is a graduate of the Immaculate Conception academy” (13 May 1906, page 12). “The sisters in their choice of scenery for the stage, have secured the best that is available, and the effects in stage setting in the production last evening were beautiful. Sosman & Landis of Chicago painted the scenes” (The Daily Times, 17 May 1906, page 7). There new scenery installation included a garden scene, a fancy interior, two parlors, and other scenes that were installed after the opening. The fancy interior was used as a royal house in France for their first production.
Of the auditorium, the newspaper reported, “The whole top story is given over to the spacious entertainment hall which for nicety of arrangements in regard to acoustics and scenic equipment and for seating an audience, except for the professional play houses, stands unexcelled in the tri-cities and will compare favorably with the auditoriums of an institution of its size. The body of the house is an inclined plane, thus permitting and unobstructed view of the stage, no mater where one is seated” (Quad City Times, 22 May 1906, page 7). The “Daily Times,” provided additional information about the auditorium, reporting, “From the rear of the room to the foot of the stage there is a pitch of some five feet, and the stage floor is four feet above the lowest point in the auditorium (17 May 1906, page 7).
There were 535 opera seats “of the latest pattern, complimenting” the walls that were painted in dark green with gold and white accents. The newspaper noted that “The stage is a model of its kind. Equal to that of the Burtis opera house in width, 58 feet, with a corresponding depth, with electric footlights and are lights, it presents fitting conditions for the presentation of any amateur theatricals or the conducting of any school exercises. The main curtain and other scenery, which equipment is complete in every respect is hard to be surpassed in artistic workmanship, as their chief artist requested that the entire work be entrusted to him as his wife is a former graduate of the academy.”
The same year that Immaculate Conception Academy’s Hall was built, the Burtis Opera House was remodeled, also by involving Sosman & Landis. Local newspapers reported that F. W. Chamberlin & Charles T. Kindt were to purchase the theater originally constructed by J. J. Burtis (1811-1883) in 1867. Burtis built the 1600-seat opera house in Detroit 1867. “The Daily Times” reported , “Theater will be completely remodeled from stage to foyer” (Davenport, Iowa, 16 March 1906, page 6). Manager Kindt, was quoted saying, “The Burtis will be completely remodeled. In fact, when it is improved, it will be practically a new theatre. Everything that is in it will be removed, and it will be fitted up in modern shape throughout.”
Changes included altering the size of the proscenium, although the boxes were to remain (The Daily Times, 24 March 1906, page 12).
Clamberlin, Kindt & Co, formed in 1894, and began managing the Burtis Opera House (Quad City Times, 10 Dec. 1906, page 10). The firm continued to expand, controlling over 25 theatres on the Illinois-Iowa circuit. Their theatres were located in Marshalltown, Rock Island, Ft. Madison, Burlington, Oskaloosa, Davenport, Galesburg, Monmouth, Muscatine, Rockford, Grinnell, Keokuk, Kewanee, Creston, Sedalia, Quincy, Peoria, Boone, Joliet, Elgine, Waterloo. Chamberlain passed away by the end of the 1906, a severe blow to Kindt and the company. That same month J. R. Lane, C.T. Kindt and Isaac Deutsch purchased the Burtis property, consisting of the Burtis Opera House and Kimball House for $55,000 (The Dispatch, Moline, Illinois, 13 Dec 1906, page 4).
To be continued…
