Vanishing Spaces

The Inca Theatre and the Roberts Building

The Inca Theatre, located at 106 W. 7th, operated from 1934 to 1954. It opened on April 1, 1934 showing the film, “Bolero,” starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. Built in one month’s time, the theater was “beautifully decorated in the ancient Inca Indian motif, after which it was named” and seated about 470 moviegoers. L.L. Hancock, who had previously managed the Hippodrome, was manager of the theatre at the time of its opening. See clippings about its construction and opening:

To_Begin_Work_on_New_Theater Download

New_Inca_Opens_Its_Doors_Today Download

Admission prices in the ’30s ranged from 10 to 20 cents, or “5c And A Clean Rag”

In December of 1934, Malcolm Cook of Oklahoma City leased the theatre from the Inca Amusement Co. After Cook’s death in 1939 at the age of 33, his widow sold his shares to Griffith Amusement Co., which was already part owner by that time and also operated the Orpheum and Yale Theatres. By 1945 the Inca was showing second-run movies, with the first-run films in Okmulgee being shown at the Orpheum and Yale. In 1950, the Inca was showing first-run films again. Live performances and gatherings of various kinds were also frequent events at the Inca.

The theatre structure, along with the adjacent building at 104 W. 7th, originally known as the Roberts Building, most recently housed an antique store.

In the 1992 National Register nomination form for the Okmulgee Downtown Historic District, the Roberts Building, circa 1909, is described as a two-story, commercial building with a curvilinear parapet with clay tile side-canopies typical of the Mission Revival style. Office space comprised the second story, all of it now filled with the refuse of the years.

Finding the seats pictured above, hidden in a dark corner of the theatre building, I drew the conclusion that we had discovered theatre seats from the old Inca. Sadly, I later read that the Inca’s chairs were set in concrete and had been specially upholstered in Grand Rapids, Michigan to match the building’s Inca Indian motif. These do not fit that description. And, according to building owner Helen Nygard, these came from a church somewhere. But still . . . .

Above, newspaper advertisement from 1939. Below, a poster in the Inca building advertising a showing at the Orpheum of the 1940 film, Primrose Path, with Ginger Rogers and Joel McRea. There are several layers of posters on the window surface. Margaret Harlan Hess is holding up the corner of the poster for the photo.

The estate of Katie Fixico had an office here in the Roberts Building and the glass with her name on it in a door frame was seen in recent years. It is now missing but fortunately John Neal, Okmulgee entrepreneur, captured a photo of it before its disappearance.