Remembering the Ioka Theatre

Clipped from the scrapbook of Percy C. Rogers

The Ioka Theatre, a stalwart of Water Street in downtown Exeter, first opened its doors to the community in 1915. Visitors at the time paid just a quarter to take in an afternoon screening of a silent picture accompanied by a 10-piece orchestra and a pipe organ for sound effects.

Over the decades, the Ioka and the Academy grew together. Students often helped pick the movies the theater would show, Exeter Theater Department productions graced its stage and in 2005, Principal Ty Tingley announced Principal’s Day on its marquee. For students, it was a welcome social diversion from their studies.

Local residents lined up at the Ioka for the premiere of a 1941 newsreel that featured the town of Exeter. This image is part of a scrapbook in the Academy Archives made by Percy C. Rogers, who taught French and Spanish at Exeter for 43 years. For much of that time, he served as coach of the varsity tennis and hockey teams. He was president of the Exeter Historical Society for 16 years.

“I remember the excitement and shock of Pulp Fiction, which we all raced to see,” Laura Menge ’95 says. “I remember watching Reality Bites with Bancroft friends and couldn’t wait for my 20s when I could live as cool as Winona Ryder. And I remember seeing The English Patient there on a date.”

Alas, the Ioka showed its last film in 2008. Then the building lay dormant until 2020 when Ioka Properties purchased the property and began redeveloping it into a mixed-use space. The plans include a restaurant in the basement, retail space on the first floor and condominiums on the upper floors. Construction is due for completion this year.

For those who miss the 19.6-footwide triangular marquee, it found a new home in Cincinnati at the American Sign Museum (pictured below), where it was installed in July.

This article was first published in the winter 2025 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.