Loyalty KC History Lesson 28: The Main St Theater. Opened: October 1921. The 3,200 seat theater was a popular vaudeville and movie house, and the only theater in Kansas City designed by Chicago firm Rapp and Rapp. The interior of the theater was designed in French Baroque style, and the exterior is a blend of neoclassical and French Second Empire. The Mainstreet Theater was the largest theater in Kansas City until the Midland Theatre opened in 1927. A tunnel connected the lower level of the theater to the nearby President Hotel at 14th and Baltimore. The tunnel was initially created as a means for actors to enter the theater from dressing rooms, but the tunnel also became infamous as a passage for bootleggers to escape police during Prohibition. The theater also had space in the basement and sub-basement where animals were kept for vaudeville shows. The space included an elephant cage, a pool for seals, and an elevator large enough and powerful enough to haul elephants to the stage. Noted performers such as Cab Calloway, Charlie Chaplin, Sir Henry Lauder, the Marx Brothers, and Olson & Johnson all head-lined at the vaudeville house. In the early 1920s, at the height of the theater's popularity, attendance at shows averaged over 4,000 daily. #mainstreettheater #alamodrafthouse #amc #vaudeville #charliechaplain #kchistory #kansascityhistory #visitkc #igkc #kcmo (at Alamo Drafthouse Kansas City)