HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
1905 Milton Earl Beebe-designed downtown Bismarck theater — variously the Gem, Orpheum, Capitol, and Cinema Theaters — and a named stop on the URL Radio Haunted History Tour for its place on 'Bloody 4th' Street; now home to Dakota Stage Playhouse.
412-414 East Main Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58501
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Community theater ticket pricing varies by production. Check Dakota Stage's site for current shows.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Single ground-floor entry on East Main Avenue; main auditorium accessible.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1905 · Milton Earl Beebe Design · Five Historic Theater Names (Gem, Orpheum, Capitol, Cinema, Dakota Stage) · National Register of Historic Places (1982) · Home of Dakota Stage Playhouse Community Theater (since 1971)
The E. G. Patterson Building was built in 1905-06 for Bismarck businessman Edward G. Patterson to designs by Fargo architect Milton Earl Beebe in an Early Commercial style. Its ground-floor west storefront became a movie theater, and from about 1910 it was occupied by the Gem, Orpheum, Capitol and Cinema Theatres in turn.
In 1911, theater manager Arthur J. Bauer purchased the Gem from M. J. Wells and renamed it the Orpheum Theater. The venue continued under the Orpheum name through the silent and early sound film era. Around 1937 it was renamed the Capitol Theater, reflecting Bismarck's role as state capital. In the 1940s and early 1950s the operation rebranded as the Cinema Theater (sometimes Capitol Cinema), continuing as a movie house.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 under its historic name, the E. G. Patterson Building. Dakota Stage Playhouse, a community theater organization founded in 1971, has occupied and operated out of the building, performing live theater productions in the historic auditorium.
The URL Radio Downtown Bismarck Haunted History Tour includes the Dakota Stage building as one of three primary named stops alongside the Patterson Hotel and Prince Hotel. The tour narration places the building in the context of downtown Bismarck's early-twentieth-century 'Murderers Gulch' (Broadway) and 'Bloody 4th' Street reputation.
Sources
The E. G. Patterson Building's haunt reputation comes primarily through its inclusion as one of three primary stops on the URL Radio Downtown Bismarck Haunted History Tour. The tour host's narration places the building in the broader story of downtown Bismarck's rough early-twentieth-century reputation, when Broadway carried the nickname 'Murderers Gulch' and Fourth Street was called 'Bloody 4th' for the frequency of saloon-era gunfights, stabbings, and fistfights.
KX News (Destination Dakota) and KFYR-TV have covered the tour, but neither published account names specific ghosts, witnesses, or first-person paranormal accounts attached to the Dakota Stage / former Gem Theater building itself. The building's century-plus history as a theater under five different names (Gem, Orpheum, Capitol, Cinema, Dakota Stage) gives it the kind of accumulated atmospheric reputation that historic theaters often carry, but no concrete documented incident.
Because the haunt narrative rests on tour-inclusion atmospherics rather than discrete paranormal accounts at this specific building, the lore is best treated as part of downtown Bismarck's broader haunted-history walking-tour tradition.
Media Appearances
Where this legend is told
Catch a Dakota Stage Playhouse production in the 1905 Patterson Building auditorium. The venue is a working community theater that has produced shows in this space since 1971.
Seasonal walking tour with named stop at the Dakota Stage building as one of three primary tour locations alongside the Patterson Hotel and Prince (Van Horn) Hotel.
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Concordia, KS
Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Brown, a Concordia banker, broke ground on the theater in April 1906 and hired Kansas City architect Carl Boller to design it. His son, Earl Van Dorn Brown, supervised construction after touring more than thirty opera houses for ideas. The theater opened September 17, 1907. Brown died in 1910; Earl died about four months later. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the building was restored to its original appearance and reopened in 1980.
Yankton, SD
The Dakota Theatre opened in 1902 in downtown Yankton, one of the oldest cities in South Dakota and the former capital of Dakota Territory. The building has served as a performance venue across more than a century, including periods as a vaudeville house and a movie theater, and now operates as a community theater. Staff and performers have long associated the building with reports of resident spirits.
Tucson, AZ
The Fox Tucson Theatre opened on April 11, 1930, as a combined vaudeville and movie house. After closing in 1974 and standing vacant for 25 years, the building was purchased in 1999 by the non-profit Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation for $250,000 and reopened in 2006 following a multi-year, multi-million-dollar restoration.