Grand Theater, Crookston

For over one hundred years, the Grand Theater of Crookston has kept up with the times, transforming itself from a venue for vaudeville and plays to a movie palace for silent films and, finally, “talkies.” By evolving to keep up with technology and the demands of the public, the Grand has remained a vital part of Crookston community life.

After the first upscale opera house in Crookston, on Main Street, was closed in 1908 due to new fire and safety regulations, the Commercial Club began plans to build a new opera house. Unwilling to lose business to surrounding towns, residents began contributing money from their own pockets to raise $10,000 in “bonus funds” to attract a builder.

In April 1910, Theodore L. Hays and J. A. Van Wie of the Twin Cities Scenic Company of Minneapolis invested in the theater and became its proprietors. The structure, which cost $50,000, was built in classical style and was erected about one block from the major business district. The theater originally seated 875 people in four different areas, including a horseshoe-shaped balcony and box seats. The proscenium opening was thirty feet wide, and the height from the stage floor to the rigging loft was forty-two feet. There were nine dressing rooms.

The first sign that the Grand would help bring prosperity to Crookston arrived in September of 1910, when the State Butter and Cheese Makers held their convention in the new building. Following that event, on November 5, 1910, the theater’s grand opening was held, featuring Margaret Illington of New York in the play “The Whirlwind.”

As a convenient stopping-off point for players between the towns of Minneapolis and Winnipeg, the Grand in its early days hosted everything from vaudeville shows to operas. Magician Harry Blackstone appeared at the theater several times.

The arrival of Charles “Ducky” Hiller with his wife, Louise Hanna Hiller, in 1918, marked a turning point in the ownership of the theater. The Grand would be in the hands of the Hiller family for the next eighty-seven years.

Charles Hiller was a veteran of the vaudeville circuit. He played various instruments, including the saxophone, drums, and violin, before taking up theater management. During vaudeville shows at the Grand, Hiller would join the touring players’ orchestra if needed. Louise worked long hours making fudge and divinity to sell to the audience.

By 1913, silent films from the Edison Film Company were added to live performances at the Grand. They were accompanied by piano music chosen to match the action.

The 1929 advent of “talkies,” movies with synchronized sound, brought big changes to entertainment at the Grand. The Crookston Daily Times conducted a survey to determine the interest of Crookston residents in this new type of film. In response to the interest, in 1932 Hiller installed a new sound system and projection booth, with the resultant loss of the box seats. In the remodel, Hiller kept the classical plaster castings, but the new lighting and ceiling of the building took on the influence of the art deco period.

The Hiller family was an active part of the community, sponsoring a benefit for the unemployed during the Depression and hosting an annual children’s Christmas party beginning in 1921. They offered free screenings of movies featuring the likes of the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy followed by a visit from Santa and candy and fruit for the children. To keep up with the times, they installed equipment to show films in Cinemascope in 1954. The first movie shown in this format was “The Robe.”

Charles Hiller died in 1955, and the theater business was subsequently run by his son Ernotte, followed by Ernotte’s son Jeff. After Jeff’s death in 2005, the family sold the theater to Bob and Jan Moore.

Jeff Hiller added a new section to the theater in 1984 called the Grand II. He also added one hundred and ten rocker-style seats and allowed for additional movies to be shown.

In 1997, high school art teacher Gary Stegman painted an eye-catching mural on the theater’s back wall. The colors of red, brown, yellow, black, and white represent the different ethnic groups of the area—united yet retaining their identities.