Hiland Theatre
3100 23rd Avenue,
Moline,
IL
61265
3100 23rd Avenue,
Moline,
IL
61265
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I could find no time line on the Hiland Theatre other that it closed in the late-1950’s. It was operated by Brotman, M & Sons and seating was listed as 459
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This photo was in the Eberson 1947 book. The text doesn’t give the location, but it doesn’t look like the Hilands in Albuquerque or Michigan.
http://tinyurl.com/3ylc6p
Wow, that is a well-composed building design.
23rd Avenue, not 23rd Street. Owned by the Brotman’s.
milesrich is correct on both corrections. I can add only memories:
My mother worked there in the late 1940’s and would take me “to work” on Saturday mornings. I got to see all the serials, Superman, Roy Rogers, Sky King, etc., and was in the welcoming committee when Roy Rogers came to Moline. Terrific childhood memories there. I would like to find a post card to add to my collection … (?)
I think the photo Ken linked to in the first comment above might depict the Hiland Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa. There’s a night shot of it on this weblog. The marquee is the same. Also, the architectural style is very similar to other theaters by architects Wetherell & Harrison, who designed the Des Moines Hiland.
I never recognized this building as a former cinema until today. See the google street view here. Notice the places on the outside wall for movie posters.
That’s a corner building, so if that was the Hiland then the photo Ken linked to in the first comment above can’t be of this theater.
The May 17, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that Brotman Bros. Corp. had closed the Hiland Theatre and would use some of the seats to replace older ones at the circuit’s Paradise Theatre, also in Moline. The building was to be converted to some other use.
I’m not familiar with Moline, so I can’t say if the theater mentioned in this Boxoffice item from April 5, 1941, pertains tot he Hiland Theatre or not: “There’s a new business block on the program for the East Highland district in Moline, Ill., and it’s reported to include plans for a 900-seat theatre.” Then, from a column in the July 19 issue of Boxoffice: “You can mention that new Moline theatre and the Brotman Brothers in the same breath and nobody will look startled.” I wish the Boxoffice columnists had been less coy.
In any case, the earliest mention of the Hiland by name that I can find in Boxoffice comes from the October 10, 1942, issue, which only says that the Hiland’s owner, Bill Brotman, had been a guest at a party thrown by the Quad Cities Theatres Association.