Willoughby: More than a century of videos at the Isis

The Isis theater as it looked in 1939. Aspen Historic Modern society/Courtesy Photo

The pandemic stopped a 105-year streak of steady flicks at the Isis. The full heritage of cinema has performed out there.

The Isis is in the Webber Block constructed by Henry Webber, who was mayor of Aspen in 1888. He arrived to Aspen in 1880, experienced a shoe retailer and was a lover in the Emma Mine. The significant brick building housed a wholesale make business in the beginning and then was dwelling to Landgreen and Hickey Wallpaper and Paint for several a long time.

It grew to become a theater in 1915. Like the town getting above the building in modern-day occasions, the Women’s Civic Improvement League turned it into a theater to host group situations mainly because the Opera Property had closed a few decades earlier because of to the hearth that ruined the theater portion. The creating with a higher ceiling and a good deal of space only needed seating. The Improvement League salvaged seats from the Wheeler.



This was at the time when silent movies were being the rage so the new house accommodated silent movies and considering that the chain of theaters that bundled Leadville and Glenwood was known as the Isis, Aspen’s new theater was in the same way named.

All kinds of civic events ended up held there. University activities, like graduations and college plays ended up staged well into the 1950s. The 4H held style demonstrates there. Episcopal companies

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