June 2025.
Rock Rapids, Iowa.

When I first discovered Rock Rapids, Iowa, in 1967, I was an 18-year-old driving my mother from California to settle near my brother’s home. I soon moved on to Minnesota and college, but the town left an impression. Back then, the Rapids was still the local movie theater, though I never did attend a film there. By the late 1970s, the marquee went dark.

The building itself had a much earlier debut. It opened in January 1919 as the Lyon Theatre, the vision of a local farmer-rancher who invested $15,000 (about $280,000 today) to bring live theater and silent films to Rock Rapids. Its ambitious design included seating for 750 and a third-floor ballroom with a balcony and orchestra loft.

Renamed the Rapids Theatre in 1936, it thrived through the golden age of cinema before closing in the late 1970s. Over the next few decades, it cycled through various identities, including a furniture store, community theater, and restaurant, before shuttering again in 2008.

In 2011, the Rapids Theatre Preservation Society purchased the building with plans to restore its historic character and reopen it as a cultural venue. With support from Stone Group Architects, the Society sought to list the building on the National Register of Historic Places while modernizing its infrastructure and preserving its civic character.

The marquee still reads “RAPIDS,” but the only thing rushing is time. Once a proud venue for vaudeville acts and cinematic escapism, the Rapids Theatre now plays a quieter role: as a local landmark, an architectural time capsule, and a structure supporting civic art. The building’s west wall leans into the embrace of the mural honoring Tony Jansma, a vivid civic vignette that now tells the story of an entrepreneurial icon. Despite the Preservation Society’s early momentum and a vision that included plays, concerts, weddings, and art shows, progress has slowed due to a lack of funding, a common malady of privately funded projects. More than a decade later, the curtain remains closed, its revival still waiting in the wings.

About the photo: I captured this image with my Samsung S23U in JPG mode instead of Pro Mode’s DNG file, a mistake I realized only after leaving town. The photo was first processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic for cataloging, cropping, and straightening. I then transferred it to Luminar Neo for final adjustments. After the edits were complete, the file was converted to a TIFF and returned to Lightroom for watermarking and export. Finally, the 2K HD file was added to my Flickr gallery. To view the high-resolution image, click on the photo above. For a more detailed look or to view the metadata, click the picture to visit my Flickr site.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme—the only rule is that your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule is simple: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner