108-110 E Main

1920 - American Theater

Neo-Classical Revival style
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The premier downtown project was the American Theater (108-10 East Main).  Movie house operators Fiske and James had "remarkable success in the [local] theater business" and they obtained a long-term lease on the Meeker lots  on East Main and announced plans to build a $65,000 modem movie house with 750 seat capacity.  The building was  designed by St. Paul Architect G. L.  Lockhart "who ranks as one of the greatest theater architects in the country."

Like the Cherokee Bank building,  100 East Main, this broad two-story theater design combines a visually dominant  veneer (in this instance limestone in lieu of terra cotta) with red brick wall panels.  The plan combines two flanking  small storefronts with a column flanked central theatre entry and bay.  Surmounting the whole is an elaborate stone cornice line. A plain brick parapet wall then rises well above the cornice line and is capped with a stone coping.  A  decorative carved stone shield motif is centered on the parapet wall.

The original theater marquee, rectangular in form, has been replaced by the triangular one.  The second floor  windows have been at least covered, and likely replaced.  The windows have been shortened to a third of their  original size.  The stone cornice is blackened with soot.
This building attests to the great building hopes for downtown Cherokee as of 1919-20, many of which were crushed  by increased construction costs.  Movie entrepreneurs Berry J. Sisk and Walter F. James announced plans for a 750-  seat theater in May 1919, to be completed by January 1,  1920. The building was to be financed through a local joint  stock company.  Strikes prevented stone from being delivered and delays increased construction costs and the unfinished building was sold by the county sheriff in 1925.  Purchaser Dale Goldie finally finished and opened the  theater.  The original contractor was J.  A. McDonald Company of Minneapolis.