The Isis, located at 617 Second Street was actually opened on Feb. 23, 1911 by two men, F. L. Greeley and H. L. Wise. They came to Webster City and rented the Geo. J. Mauch building which formerly housed the Family Theatre. These were the men who chose the name Isis, which appeared in the Webster City Journal headline as I-sis. "The policy of the house will be to have straight motion pictures with an occasional vaudeville act. The latest in opera chairs and the newest motion picture apparatus has been installed" according to the Feb. 23, 1911 edition of the Journal. They later sold the theater to A. C. Schuneman.

The theater ran double features, generally showing second run films. One central aisle with twenty rows of five seats on each side seated 200 people. This theater had a piano and an organ to provide the mood music. The musician watched the film progress and provided the proper music to fit the scenes. Willy Knight recalled that one of the daughters of Lou Lenhard, veteran Webster City clothier, played at the Isis. The theater was a family operation. A. C. (Arnold) Schuneman ran the projector while his wife, Helen, sold the tickets, popcorn and peanuts. This theater had a dirt floor in the basement. The place was a haven for rats and mice which scampered about the floor picking up the spilled peanuts and popcorn.

The ticket price was 10 cents, but admission could be gained by turning in ten bread wrappers from the Webster City Bakery. The bakery owner, C. A. Phillips, would collect the bread wrappers and bale them and take them to the dump and bury them. This arrangement was good for either the Orpheum or the Isis Theaters. This promotion sold a lot of bread for the bakery. Many Webster City residents have told me about saving the bread wrappers so that they could go to the movies. Gus Dermand mentioned this also in one of his articles about his early life in Webster City.

The Isis for a time had a Kiddies Club. Kids could request a card which they carried with them to a Saturday matinee. The admission price for the Kiddies Club was 5 cents. Dermand recalled belonging to this club. He stated that his father would give him ten cents for the movies: a nickel for the admission and a nickel for the popcorn.

Dermand also recalled that in the summer when it was very hot, the back door would be propped open to get some breeze flowing. Invariably kids would discover this and would crawl inside and slither on the floor under the seats until they were where they wanted to sit. This way their entry would not be detected by the manager. The kids did encounter rats, mice, refuse and other unpleasant things as they crawled.

The Isis burned on January 13, 1927 in a fire that destroyed the Freeman-Journal, the Denny Dry Goods Store, Farlin's White Front Bakery, and the theater. Schuneman rebuilt the theater in the same location after trying to find a larger frontage without success. The theater was sold to the Field brothers of Minneapolis on February 1, 1930. The purchase was made in the name of the Pioneer Corporation which eventually owned about 19 theaters. The three brothers, Harold, Dan, and Leonard, were originally named Finkelstein but changed their names to Field due to the strong feelings against the Jewish people. Harold managed the theaters while the other two brothers were silent partners. Harold Field hired Jack Plant of Milwaukee to manage both the Isis and Orpheum Theaters in Webster City. This theater was torn down in 1954.