A Solvable-On-Site cache. The info found at the posted coordinates will give you all the data needed for the final coordinates.
The posted coordinates will bring you to the front of the historic River Falls Theater. It’s not one of those megaplex theater’s you see nowdays, but instead a single screen with great prices and cheap concessions. To gather up the FINAL coordinates, locate the street address on the front of the door to the theater (you do NOT need to enter the building).
The final coordinates are:
N44 51.499
W092 37.XXX
Where:
XXX = address, plus 339
Final is located in Ostness Park, just a short distance from this location. It's a tiny park, but always maintained well and a nice spot to take a break. A bison tube awaits and friendly throughout all our varied seasons.
Here is some history of the motion picture theaters in River Falls
The first movies shown in River Falls were shown on July 14, 1901 in the River Falls Opera House. These movies were of short subjects and of course were silent. The first dedicated theater called the Electric Theater Company was located at 124 N. Main Street from May until July 1908. The theater then moved to a building at 114 E . Elm Street that was previously the River Falls Times newspaper building. The Theater was ran by a conglomerate of local men, George Pratt, Fred Pratt, Harry Reynolds and John Lowe.
The theater did not last and a different company, the Northern Amusement company took over and renamed the theater the Gem in November 1909. The first movie shown there was called Land of Little Brown, a movie so obscure now that it is not in the Imdb . Abraham N. Wolff of Rochester, New York was the manager and Frank Frion, of Rice Lake became the projectionist. showtimes were 7,8, and 9 pm with admission set at 5 and 10 cents . It was a thrill in June 1911 when local River Falls girl Anna Dodge Hernandez's (born here in 1867) movie Widow of Mill Creek Flats was shown there. Movies were shown there continuously until 1915 when a new theater the Princess opened at 114 N. Main Street.
The building had been a saloon since it was built in 1882 and when prohibition was enacted in River Falls, the proprietor, Ben Rosenberg change the building to a movie theater.
After a fire in January 1926 destroyed three 1870s buildings on the west side of Main street housing the River Falls Cafe, Bjerstedt and Benson's Mens clothing store and Curtis Johnson's feed store, wheels were set in motion for a new and more modem theater.
The Falls Theater was built from January to July 1927 at a cost of $25,000 . Ole Ostness was the local contractor, John Probst, the interior designer and Phil Ramer and Emil Carisch the local owners. Leather seats, velour curtains, two rest rooms available and a two reel Simplex Projector were some of the modem innovations at the new Falls Theater. The George E . Miner Amusement Company, of Rice Lake would lease the theater from 1927 until 1952. On August 29 , 1927 the Theater opened to a packed crowd filling the 476 seats to capacity. The first movie shown was Painting the Town , a silent comedy by director William Craft.
Admission prices started at 10 and 25 cents (with inflation this would be about $3.25 today). A simple display sign was put up alongside the theater in September 1927. The town was not big enough for two theaters and the Princess Theater soon closed on September 23, 1927, the last movie being The Big Parade, a 13 reel MGM war movie. Vaudville and other stage acts would be prevalent in the theater for the first few years until the talkies were installed in July 1930. With new vitaphone equipment installed there also was a new manger in Reinhart "Ozzie or Red" Lattch.
Movies switched three times a week. For example on their original runs Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was shown April 30 - May 1, 1938 on a weekend, and The Wizard of Oz shown from September 24 - 26, 1939 a Sunday through Tuesday and Casablanca was shown on May 10 and 11, 1943 a Monday and Tuesday only! The special engagement movie Gone with the Wind came on May 16 - 17, 1940 only with a special admission price of $1.10 , to packed crowds. Movies were always accompained by a cartoon, serial and/or news reel. An attractive neon lighted sign was added to the front of the theater in July 1936. During this time refreshments were not available in the theater and popcorn was purchased from a consession stand across the street from Cliff Smith.
At the end of World War II, management again changed to Archie Z. McClellan. He installed new projection lamps. Archie would film local events and parades and show them before the Movie called Falls Theater Presents. Some ofthese movies are preserved on a tape called Old Movies of River Falls, available at the Public Library. In May 1952 , the theater was sold from the to Jan and Agnes Morey of Minneapolis. As television grew commonplace theaters became testing grounds for new technology. In May 1954 , George Jonakowski installed Cinemescope screen and a projector that could show 3-D movies. Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D was the first movie to be shown all week. In a time air conditioning was not common at home, the theater installed its first system in July 1955. Soon after, that November Herbert Stolzman of Minot, North Dakota took over the theater for a run of 17 years. Stolzman would add a "modem" front to the theater in 1965, redoing the entire front, adding a drink machine and losing the Falls Theater neon sign . In 1972 after 34 years in the Movie Business, Herb Stolzman sold the theater to Stan McCulloch of Minneapolis, bringing in a new era to the Falls Theater.