Orpheus Hall
Vernal, Utah
C. W. Showalter, and Andrew King opened the Orpheus Hall on Thanksgiving Day, 30 November 1911. The amusement hall had a spring dance floor, but was also used for roller skating, basketball, banquets, and movies. It was named after the Greek god of Mirth, “a famous musician who is reputed to have had power to entrance men, beasts, and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.” At 11:00 PM on New Years Eve, 1928, the hall was renamed Imperial Hall. In a ceremony on 20 April 1965, Governor Governor Calvin L. Rampton took a sledge hammer and delivered the first blow in the demolition of the hall as part of a community beautification campaign.
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Utah Theater is Being Enlarged
Ogden Standard Examiner, 18 September 1917, page 6
The Utah theater is fast nearing completion and it is thought by Manager A. J. Fyhn that it will be ready to open by Oct. 1. The extensive improvements being made include the lengthening of theater by about 25 feet, complete re-decorating and furnishing and the installation of new upholstered seats and a pipe organ. The materials are here and workmen are busy on the interior, in an effort to get the building ready for occupancy on the date set for the opening.
When completed, the Utah theater will be one of the finest as well as one of the most beautiful motion picture houses in the city.
