The Brown Grand Theatre Virtual Tour

310 West 6th St
Concordia, KS





Welcome to the Brown Grand Theatre. Located in Concordia KS, the Brown Grand opened as the Brown Grand Opera House in 1907.

In 1876, Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Brown came to Concordia. His wife, Katherine, and six year old son, Earl, came soon after. Napoleon made a great deal of money as a banker and soon became the town's wealthiest citizen. He and Katherine were active members of the Concordia community. Their son Earl eventually graduated from Harvard, married a girl from Boston, Gertrude, and brought her home to the family. Katherine never did accept this marriage. Pictures of the four are hung in the ladies parlor.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Concordians were clamoring for an opera house. Napoleon offered to build this edifice. Earl & Gertrude were in charge of the construction while Napoleon & Katherine vacationed in California & Florida. They attended opening night ceremonies on September 17, 1907. Earl presented the keys to the building as well as a magnificent curtain featuring a reproduction of a painting of Napoleon at battle.

The opera house operated as a theatre for four years but then within fifteen months of each other, both Napoleon and Earl died. This left the theatre to the two women who did not get along. They agreed to give the building to the city. The opera house operated as a theatre for the next twenty years, but the face of entertainment changed. People no longer were as interested in live entertainment; they wanted motion pictures.

In 1929, the building was sold to the Concordia Amusement Company. They began showing motion pictures there. The building remained a movie theatre for the next 50 years. In the mid-1970s a restoration movement began. The theatre was sold to the restoration committee. Restoration was complete in 1980. The theatre has operated as a live performance venue since that time.

The Virtual Tour of the Brown Grand Theatre was a service-learning project of the Cloud County Community College's Introduction to Web Design class, taught by Chet Anson in the fall semester, 2007. Members of the class who worked on the pages were Dustin Key and Matthew Fredericks (Parlor);Susan Cantine-Maxson and Amber Paitz (second Floor);Cody Adams and Michael Anderson (Main Floor). Cody Adams photographed the theatre; Susan Cantine-Maxson supplied the narrative.