The Ivonhoe Theatre

In 1914 and 1915, Charles L. Blatz was the owner and manager of the Ivonhoe Theatre, located on the west side of Jackson Street between Market and Washington Streets. An advertisement for the theatre stated that it was “built to conform to the Ohio State code, is absolutely fire and panic proof.”  Music was provided by a special musical instrument, the “American Photo Player,” which combined piano, organ, and musical and sound effects in one unit. In the lobby of the Ivanhoe, hung a painting by Ralph S. Tebbutt, said to be a rendition of a "Native American maiden." The model for the painting was Mr. Blatz’s niece, Ivon Gamble. Ivon was about nineteen years of age when Tebbutt did the painting.  

Ivon Gamble married Augustus Feick in September of 1921. Following the death of Mr. Feick in 1938, Ivon married John W. Campbell. Mrs. Ivon Gamble Feick Campbell passed away in 1985 at the age of 90. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery next to her first husband, Augustus Feick. Mrs. Ivon Campbell is pictured below in her later years.

Mr. Norbert Erney wrote a piece of sheet music entitled “Ivonhoe,” in honor of the theater. The sheet music is now located in the Arts Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research  Center. By 1916, the theater on Jackson Street became known as the Plaza Theater.