Royal Theatre
214 S. Sixth Street,
Springfield,
IL
62701
214 S. Sixth Street,
Springfield,
IL
62701
1 person
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This early Springfield theatre opened in 1909, and closed in 1920. It stood near the corner of Sixth Street and Monroe Street.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The building is actually still there…
http://springfieldrewind.com/214-s-6th-1934/
Was this the first Kerasotes theatre?
The August 3, 1957, issue of Boxoffice refers to “…Gus Kerasotes, pioneer exhibitor who opened one of the nation’s first movie theatres, the Royal at Springfield, in 1909.”
And the photo linked above does show that the building is indeed still standing.
I just posted a photo that I took in May 2010. At that time, the building housed The Blue Door (homemade goods by local artists).
Per Google Maps, the current occupant of the building at 214 S. 6th Street is a restaurant called the 6 Street Café.
If you were searching for the most important theatre in the history of Springfield, Illinois, you found it. Peter Coutrakon and Gus Kerasotes ran an ice cream in the summer and concessionary year-round beginning in 1902. Both Coutrakon and Kerasotes would also eventually go into the movie theatre business.
Gus Kerasotes was first and found his calling here on bustling Sixth Street with the Royal Theatre on March 7, 1909. It was a nondescript, second-floor nickelodeon but Kersotes and his brothers figured out how to draw crowds and the nickels added up. Pretty soon Kerasotes Bros. became a local and then regional chain of movie theatres. The Royal appears to have closed on August 27, 1916 with live programming plus “The Gates of Divorce” with Gertrude McCoy and Ben Turpin in “Delinquent Bridegrooms.”
Second floor nickelodeons were not only out of favor by 1916 but considered quite unsafe. By that time Kerasotes was on to other theaters including the Savoy and many others.