The lights are back on at the Boone Theater
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The outside of Boone Theater. Photo: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios
The historic Boone Theater, shuttered for decades and once on the verge of collapse, has reopened in 18th & Vine as a mixed-use venue housing the Black Movie Hall of Fame and the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City.
Why it matters: The 102-year-old building is one of the last surviving theaters from the era when 18th & Vine was the cultural and economic heart of KC's Black community, and its return marks the biggest restoration the district has seen in years.
By the numbers: The city has poured more than $86 million in public money into 18th & Vine projects in recent years, drawing roughly $1.5 billion in private investment, according to longtime Central City Economic Development Commission member Ken Bacchus.
Flashback: The Boone Theater opened in 1924 as the New Rialto, a movie and vaudeville house built during Prohibition under Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast.
- It was renamed in the early 1930s in honor of John William "Blind" Boone, a Black ragtime pianist born during the Civil War whose music helped lay the foundation for Kansas City jazz.
- In the 1940s, it became Scott's Theater, a restaurant and show bar with live entertainment. In the 1950s, it was converted into an armory for Missouri's first Black National Guard unit, the 242nd Engineer Combat Battalion.
- It sat largely empty for decades after, eventually falling into such disrepair that the building was nearly condemned before restoration began.
Between the lines: The Vine Street Collaborative, a local partnership of Shomari Benton, Tim Duggan and Jason Parson, led the restoration after the same team turned the nearby 2000 Vine St. into a redeveloped anchor of the district.
- The theater sits steps from the Gem Theater, the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
What they're saying: "This project has been a labor of love and truly is a historic preservation of the building," investor Adam Jones said in a statement, calling it "the finest, most dynamic preservation project in the 18th and Vine Jazz District."
- State Sen. Barbara Washington, whose grandfather helped build the nearby Centennial United Methodist Church, told the crowd the district "isn't just the jazz district. This is our Black Wall Street."
- Former Kansas City Mayor and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who pushed the district's first redevelopment in the 1990s, told attendees, "We've got a story to tell for the whole country. Resurrection happened in the jazz district of Kansas City, Missouri."
What's next: Developers say the ribbon cutting was the first phase of a larger plan for the block, with more renovations and tenant announcements still ahead.