Wheaton Grand Theater
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
17 people
favorited this theater
The Grand Theatre, which opened in 1925 with 1,000 seats, closed in the late-1990’s as a second-run movie house and is seeking to raise between $5-7 million for restoration costs. The new owners, the Wheaton Grand Theater Corp., reopened the theater on a limited basis in 2002 with the Wheaton Grand Theatre serving as a venue for concerts, classic film screenings and other community events.
The Wheaton Grand Theater closed April 1, 2006, to allow for the beginning of an $8 million restoration and renovation project which was expected to take around two years to return the theater to its original appearance, including a return to a single screen configuration. Unfortunately, by 2011, these plans had come to nothing, and the theatre sits empty and unused.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick, Dave Wiegers
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Recent comments (view all 397 comments)
Send the Wonder Morton back home to the Kings where it belongs
A little bit of good news for the Grand perhaps?
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Let everybody understand, I like the Wheaton Grand. I would grimace at seeing this movie palace wrecked. However, being a preservationist, I would truly appreciate the return of the remaining Wonder Morton components to the Kings, if the parties found a way to accomplish this. In the event the Wheaton Grand is saved, there ARE other theater organs out there, awaiting a new home. In fact, I know of a virtually complete 3m Wurlitzer right in my home town, that is available!
Here is a story from today’s Daily Herald about the Wheaton Grand.
Any news on the Wheaton Grand? I went by this weekend and it looks like someone has been working inside the building.
A new group is raising funds online to purchase and restore the Wheaton Grand for use as a concert venue and performing arts center. Visit the fundraiser page at http://www.indiegogo.com/thegrand
I never did understand why they had to stop doing concerts here. It seems like it was a reasonable business at least. That they didn’t continue with local shows while money was raised was always a question mark for me.
A prospective buyer has come forward with plans to restore the Wheaton Grand if the sale goes through and a fund raising drive is successful: View article
The Wheaton has been bought and the new owner is currently in the process of raising funds for restoration.
Great news,thanks….not another parking lot…