Zebulon "Zibe" B. Myers
Zibe Myers was nominated to the Chillicothe Hall of Fame in 2018.
Zebulon “Zibe” B. Myers was born at 423 Jackson Street in Chillicothe in 1860. Zibe, son of prominent parents Jacob and Carolina Myers, was very well-known throughout the county in his day. A true entrepreneur, he managed multiple businesses. By 1878, at just 18 years of age, he was working in the transfer, baggage and express business, with a livery on the corner of Jackson and Cherry Streets, behind present-day Chillicothe State Bank. As part of the livery business, he kept updated and stylish carriages, buggies, and surreys. He was also reported to be in the poultry business, breeding several kinds of fancy chickens and selling eggs. Before 1890, Zibe was in a business with O. S. Darling, who upon retiring in early 1890, turned their entire business over to Zibe; what business it was, we do not know.
Zibe married Mary Luella Lile, a local lady, in 1882. Although they never had any children, they raised two orphaned relatives, Mac and Margaret Henry.
Zibe transitioned into theatre life, co-managing the City Hall’s grandiose Opera House, as well as continuing to work in the transfer line in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In 1889 Zibe purchased a lot north of the Leeper House (702 Washington Street, northwest corner of Washington and Webster Streets) with the intent of building a new opera house. For some reason it did not work out and he sold the lot the following year.
In 1890, Zibe went to Macon, Missouri, to tour an opera house and talk with the manager about the running of such a place. In fact, there had been a meeting earlier that year in Macon where all the managers of opera houses in north Missouri created a traveling circuit of shared and coordinated bookings. Zibe already had financial backers for building his own opera house in Chillicothe: N.J. Swetland, W.H. Sipple, Herman, Berg and Stevens, and Conger and Botts. He also visited Gallatin’s Arbelia Opera House. He had everything he needed but the right place.
In 1895, after buying a lot on Clay Street from Peter Young, Zibe hired Kansas City theatre architect and scenic artist, George H. Johnston, to design a new theatre. The Luella Grand Theatre, which opened on June 27, 1895, was known as “the finest show house in north Missouri” with 650 theatre seats. Its 60-foot stage was “said to be the largest between Kansas City and Des Moines.” The theatre was designed to be reminiscent of the famed Ford Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated, with “sloping, curved balcony” seating and “loges” along the sides. There were murals as well as plush seats, parquet flooring in the entryway, and colored glass in the front. The design also included a very tall section in the back that allowed wagons to pull in to lift and lower the stage curtain and scenery; these were not rolled.
Zibe knew how to market his interests. He created quite a stir about his new theatre and even sold hundreds of tickets for opening night before the structure was built! It is said he paid for the seats with the opening night admissions. He eventually owned a bill posting plant (early billboards) for the Theatre. In Julius Cahn’s Theatre Guides, a nation-wide theatre publication, the Luella was the only theatre listed for Chillicothe for many years, even though there were other theatres in town.
Zibe brought “some of the finest entertainment” to Chillicothe, more than just plays and operas. In 1898 the Chillicothe High School hosted its graduation ceremony here. Governor Stanley of Kansas gave the Chillicothe Business College’s annual address at the Luella. Wrestling and boxing matches were held here. John Philip Sousa and his band played here in 1900. It is said there was a crowd larger than for the Luella’s opening night. They were barely able to accommodate Sousa’s fifty-piece orchestra on the stage in six rows. Lectures were also given here. In 1906 the Governor of Missouri, Joseph W. Folk, came to speak with thousands trying to fit into the theatre to hear his speech.
Zibe’s expertise and assistance was in demand. He owned interests in theatres in Moberly, Laclede, and Brookfield, Missouri as well as Chanute, Kansas. He even offered to help the town of Virginia, Minnesota build their own opera house, with him in charge of the details and owning a certain percentage. He travelled to New York to complete the program booking for the Luella as well as the Missouri circuit.
It was at the Luella that the first “moving pictures” were shown in Chillicothe on May 2, 1905. By this time, Chillicothe was part of the circuit that included Macon, Moberly, Kirksville, and Hamilton.
Not afraid to stand up for his rights, Zibe fought with City Council a number of times over ordinances not allowing theatres to operate on Sundays. At one point in 1902, Zibe, to further his point, tried to issue warrants for every business open on Sunday and have them all prosecuted under the existing ordinance.
In 1905 Zibe ran for and was elected to the Chillicothe City Council. He helped to discredit the unscrupulous Water Company and protect the community. In 1911 he ran for Mayor but lost to Chris Boehner. Oddly enough, there were no issues noted while he was on the council regarding the pesky Sunday ordnance. Zibe also remodeled the Luella Theatre in 1905, adding 100 more seats.
In 1910, Zibe traded the Luella Theatre for some farmland near Columbia, Missouri. He stayed on as manager of the theatre, however, for a time. In 1911 he is credited with bringing “colored pictures” to the Luella. On Nov. 3, 1911, he showed a “real/reel motion pictures in color.” These may have been hand-colored film or slides; actual colored motion pictures did not appear on the scene until the late 1930s. Zibe was way ahead of his time!
Staying active in the community, in 1923 and 1926 he ran for police judge. He also ran for county representative in 1926. It doesn’t seem that he was successful with any of those elections. He won the county representative seat to the state legislature in 1927, however, and served for two years. He was also involved with the Anti-Thief Association and was even state president of that organization at one time. Zibe was also a member of the Daughters of Rebekah and Odd Fellows Lodge and Masonic Lodge for many years.
Zibe died in the same house he was born in on October 12, 1938 and is buried in Edgewood Cemetery.