The Booth Theatre opened on February, 4 1927 in Independence, Kansas. It was designed by the Boller Brothers, who are responsible for hundreds of theaters across the Midwest. The 1,100–seat theater was built in a Renaissance Revival style and named for entrepreneur H. B. Booth, who helped finance its construction.

The opening feature was The Cheerful Fraud, a silent comedy. When the doors opened, more than 1,650 people came rushing in; officially about 1,100 were seated for the premiere. Like many theaters of its era, the Booth was built for silent films but quickly adapted to sound. For decades it was the movie palace for Independence, but the rise of multiplexes and television took its toll.

The final film was shown on April 20, 1980. A church congregation used the building for a few years before it was left vacant. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, and the Booth Theatre Foundation (BTF) was formed in the 1990s to try and bring it back.

BTF continues to push for a full restoration, with the goal of bringing films and live performances back to Independence. The other early theaters here — the Best, Beldorf, Quality, and Main Street — are long gone. A modern multiplex covers movies today, but the Booth remains the only historic theater left.