Long ago on independence square (St. Joseph, Washington: metropolitan, affordable, hospital)

[SilverDoc]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

Sorry, but I'm not sure just when it was taken. My sources do say though, that it's the Plaza Theater at 119 W. Lexington. Maybe someone can confirm that?

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

It is not the Plaza. The Plaza had a small sweet shop entrance to the left of the building as you faced it.

If you have a photo of the current Knitcraft building, or even Sudora's, the building is one and the same except for some updated treatments on the first floor doing away with the entry and exit doors. The fancy treatment immediately above the windows on the second floor is a giveaway. The fancy treatment along the roof line is the same also. Looking close at the Knitcraft building one can see the windows above the entry and exit doors in the photo have been covered over with brick.

Additionally, the photo shows a curb cut in the lower left where the parking meter is. That is the alley exit onto Main Street between Maple and Truman. There would be no similar curb cut across from the Plaza because of the courthouse.

Also, the parking is parallel in the photo. The parking on Lexington was angled.

The only thing that does not match is that there appears to be a vacant lot to the right of the building. The only thing I could add would be that the building holding Gateway Sporting Goods and another shop was built after this photo was taken.

Either my source was wrong as to the identity of the building, OR, and this is more likely, I misread or miss printed.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

Either my source was wrong as to the identity of the building, OR, and this is more likely, I misread or miss printed.

Chuckle, earlier I was going to ask if you had a photo of the Plaza. I only have a photo in a book that is copyrighted.

The photo of the Electric must have been after it closed in the late 40s. There is no marque but maybe there was not one to begin with.

Here is some additional information. If you look at the current location on Lexington where the Plaza was located, that building has six windows, grouped in two pairs each, on the second floor.

There is no ornamental decoration along the roof line and the building is narrower than the building in the photo.

I would also like to add that the Plaza Sweet Shop to the left of the theater as you faced it had a glass front with the door.

[SilverDoc]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Chuckle, earlier I was going to ask if you had a photo of the Plaza. I only have a photo in a book that is copyrighted.

The photo of the Electric must have been after it closed in the late 40s. There is no marque but maybe there was not one to begin with.

Here is some additional information. If you look at the current location on Lexington where the Plaza was located, that building has six windows, grouped in two pairs each, on the second floor.

There is no ornamental decoration along the roof line and the building is narrower than the building in the photo.

I would also like to add that the Plaza Sweet Shop to the left of the theater as you faced it had a glass front with the door.

I haven't run across a photo of the Plaza, yet. (or the Majestic, the Lyric, the Cozy...) Maybe Mad has one. I DO know that it was at 119 w. Lexington. Meanwhile, I'll keep digging.

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Chuckle, earlier I was going to ask if you had a photo of the Plaza. I only have a photo in a book that is copyrighted.

The photo of the Electric must have been after it closed in the late 40s. There is no marque but maybe there was not one to begin with.

Here is some additional information. If you look at the current location on Lexington where the Plaza was located, that building has six windows, grouped in two pairs each, on the second floor.

There is no ornamental decoration along the roof line and the building is narrower than the building in the photo.

I would also like to add that the Plaza Sweet Shop to the left of the theater as you faced it had a glass front with the door.

Maybe from the same book "Images of America series Independence" page 71. There is a photo of "sudora" with the caption:

" . . . owned by SUsan L. Matthew and DORA M. Perkins was location at 215 North Main Street in the building that had been occupied by the Electric Theater movie house during the second decade of the 20th century through the 1940s."

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

I haven't run across a photo of the Plaza, yet. (or the Majestic, the Lyric, the Cozy...) Maybe Mad has one. I DO know that it was at 119 w. Lexington. Meanwhile, I'll keep digging.

The same book has a photo looking west on W. Lexington on the Bundschu's corner (Davis Paint ?) p. 53 and an east view prominently featuring First National Bank, from say, Denton Drugs on Liberty, p. 54. Both from 1950. Both show the Plaza Theatre marquee but not much of a close-up from those angles.

[WCHS'59]

As I recall, in the early fifties at any of the Independence grocery stores, small or large, one could buy a double pack of Hostess chocolate cup cakes sitting on a thin cardboard stiffener wrapped in cellophane. The price was ten cents.

Twinkies came along around 1953, or so, although I believe they were available in other areas much sooner than than that since they were concocted in the thirties.

Twinkies were a pair on the same thin cardboard stiffener and wrapped in cellophane, price ten cents.

Nowadays, I think the minimum cup cakes or Twinkies one can buy is ten in a box.

It has been years since I ate a Twinkie but it did not taste as good as it did when I was a youngster.

[MRG Dallas]

Those things stayed a dime for a long time.

[SilverDoc]

You've just crossed over into.... the Independence Square Zone.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

Those things stayed a dime for a long time.

Then went to 12 cents, then 15 cents, then 20 cents.

Rest in peace, Twinkies.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

You've just crossed over into.... the Independence Square Zone.

The 1956 Packard Caribbean was one swank automobile at $6,000, or more than three times the working man's Ford or Chevy.