The building which subsequently housed the theater was originally designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb for the Davenport stock company.

Later on, architect Erwin Rossbach was hired by the Association of Bible Students to complete the structure.

The organization intended it to serve for religious lectures and screening Biblical films.

[2] The first production in the theater in 1921 was the premiere of Shuffle Along, the hit musical revue by Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, Noble Sissle, and Eubie Blake.

[3] Other notable premieres at the theatre were Mae West's Sex in February 1926[4] and the English-language version of Friedrich Wolf's Professor Mamlock in 1937.