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Newton, Kansas

The Newton Fox Theatre was built in 1914 and once showcased vaudeville acts. It had a full pit for an orchestra and coal shoots for heating furnaces in the basement. It was known as the Royal Theater until 1921, when it was renamed the Regent and revamped for staging vaudeville acts. In the 1920s it started showing silent films and in the 1930s the theater was fitted with its first sound system.

When 21st Century Fox bought the theater in 1955, workers tore into the stage, putting up a large canvas screen and cutting away at the arch above. After that, not much changed inside the building up to its final show in 1999. Behind the screen there are still upstairs dressing rooms for actors and a pulley system for stage scenery. A huge second-floor loft might have been a ballroom that still has antique stenciling on the ceiling.

The theater's 440 seats are new, and the paint on the walls is just a few years old, but the place retains a lot of its 1950s character and today hosts speakers and conventions, and stages plays and musicals.

Attractions and Upcoming Events

Mennonite Settler Statue

The tallest, sturdiest Mennonite in Kansas stands seventeen feet tall in the Athletic Park. He is the Mennonite Settler Statue built in 1942

Newton, KS Landmarks

500 Main Place

Across the street from the Newton Station stands the historic Railroad Savings and Loan Building now known as 500 Main Place. The Railroad Savings and Loan Association, organized 30 years before the bank was built in 1925

Newton, KS Historic Buildings

Harvey County East Park

Activities in and around the 320 acre lake include nature trails, boating, swimming, water-skiing, and fishing for walleye, channel catfish, largemouth bass, crappie and sunfish. No hunting is allowed. Camping (electrical hook-ups available)

Newton, KS Recreation

Carriage Factory Gallery & Park

In 1883-1884, one of Newton's largest industries was established, J.J. Krehbiel's Carriage Factory. Mr. Krehbiel was one of the founders of Bethel College. In 1993

Newton, KS Arts

Harvey County Historical Museum and Library

The Harvey County historical Museum and Libraryi is housed in a former Carnegie Library that served Newton and Harvey County residents until 1973. Completed in 1904, the library was built by a gift from Andrew Carnegie and is the oldest public building in town. * Harvey County Hall:

Newton, KS Museums

Things to do near Newton, KS