Louis B. Mayer, the production head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, started his career in the movie business years earlier, not in Hollywood, but in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He owned six theatre/vaudeville houses on River Street, and was cashing in on the movie craze as quickly as new films were released.

Edward Mayer, a Rockingham County Judge who lived in Exeter, visited his prosperous Uncle Louis in Haverhill in 1911 to see what all of the excitement was about. He saw people lined up for blocks, waiting to look at the latest attractions in the newest fad to entertain the masses; the Movies.

Before Edward returned to Exeter he was already planning the building which now exists at 55 Water Street. It took two years to acquire financial backing and another year to locate and purchase a suitable lot of land. Construction of the Mayer Building began in March of 1915. The theatre opened its' doors on November 1, 1915 with the epic, "The Birth Of A Nation", directed by D. W. Griffith.

According to James C. Rathbone, our first manager, the Ioka received its unique name as the result of a contest held shortly before opening to the public. The winner of the contest, a young lady who eventually became the first cashier here, was "steeped in Girl Scouting and Indian Lore." "Ioka", the Scouter said, was a local Squamscot Indian word for "Playground".

There were lots of Majestics, Bijous and Rialtos, but there's only one Ioka! For nearly a century, the Ioka has run all of the great movies. In the teens and twenties, we entertained with silent films, live musical accompaniment, vaudeville, burlesque & plays. In 1929, we started running "talkies". (Our first sound feature was "The Cocoanuts" with The Marx Brothers!) During the Depression, we ran the films that buoyed the nation with snappy tunes and big production dance numbers, while drawing customers with premium give-aways such as "Bank Night" (a lottery type cash prize, selecting the winner by ticket stub), and "Dish Night", (an entire set of dish ware, gotten a piece at a time, over subsequent weeks!)

By the forties, the Ioka as well as Exeter was featured in a chapter of R.K.O.'s long running "March Of Times" series, a fascinating timepiece about our town. We showed newsreels, cartoons, Three Stooges Shorts, films shot in Technicolor, hosted scrap drives, and became a rallying point for the war effort. The fifties saw the improvements such as Cinemascope, stereophonic sound and 3-D presentation! And don't forget those Saturday and Sunday afternoons spent with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers & Hoppy!

The fifties were a time of prosperity for Americans. However, television and other technological advances from autos to dishwashers took their toll on the theatre business. The "downtown theatre", usually built before 1929, was convenient for the pedestrians that populated them. Televisions were a serious investment; new couples stayed at home a night with their kids, and watched the tube. When they went to town, they did it in a shiny new automobile that weighed between four and six thousand pounds!

In the sixties, an astonishing number (on the order of 8,500) theatres across America were demolished! They had fallen onto hard times, disuse, or disrepair and occupied prime real estate for offices and parking garages. Multiplexes sprung up on the outskirts of most towns or in the suburbs, even as these great old palaces fell to the change in times.

By fate or design, the Ioka has managed, time and again, to side step this fate with more than a few "close shaves". It is still here for you and your family to enjoy—a way to step back in time, to revisit your youth.

Today, the theater looks and operates very much as it did in its heyday. We still have our 1940’s Manley Popcorn Maker, and for nearly 100 years we have proudly served Coca Cola products. The balcony is still open for the young at heart and the original tin ceiling with the soot from the old gas lights is still in place. The clickity clack of the original Brenkert projectors can still be heard from the balcony seats. Some things do change for the better though. The IOKA is now a Dolby Digital theater, the old torn silver screen has been replaced and our smaller screening room is now fully Digital featuring High Definition art and independent films. Adapting to todays technology while keeping the past alive is key to the continued survival of the IOKA.

The Ioka is a "movie museum", and a regional treasure.

It is a blueprint of the way that Americans entertained themselves for the 20th Century.