Wheaton Grand Theater
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 396 comments found
Great news,thanks….not another parking lot…
The Wheaton has been bought and the new owner is currently in the process of raising funds for restoration.
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
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 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
Any news on the Wheaton Grand? I went by this weekend and it looks like someone has been working inside the building.
Here is a story from today’s Daily Herald about the Wheaton Grand.
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!
A little bit of good news for the Grand perhaps?
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Send the Wonder Morton back home to the Kings where it belongs
From today’s Daily Herald:
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Very sad:(
In yesterday’s referrendum, Wheaton residents voted against using public funds towards restoring the theater, according to the Chicago Tribune article below:
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Interesting photo
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Im hearing the theatre may be demolished
Went by it yesterday. Marquee is red. Building is 4 SALE.
Man after all the dedate and name calling on this site now another set back thats too bad looks like a nice theatre.
It appears that that the efforts to renovate this theater as a live performance venue have suffered a major setback, as the not-for-profit that owned the theater has defaulted on its loan and has returned the deed to the property to the bank; story here: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=393848. There is still some talk that Classic Cinemas may be interested in buying the theater; see this story from this past April: http://cinematreasures.org/news/23601_0_1_0_C/
The marquee was being painted white when i went by it yesterday. When i looked in the lobby there was a fair amount of water damage.
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Here is a video of the organ to be installed in the wheaton
1 of 5 Wonder theatre organs from the Loew’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SetFfovLkVQ
A 2/9 Kimball was installed in the theatre in 1925
MarkG I had worked at the Glen and the Wheaton theatres and was wondering when you serviced the equipment? Those two theatres hold a fond place in my heart and any info you have I would be interested in. The only thing that makes the Wheaton theatre “Grand” is tiles on the front of the building that spell it out. I would argue the Wheaton was nicer than the Glen, but the Dupage was the gem of the three back in the day.
Having grown up in Glen Ellyn and also having done maintainance on the projection and sound systems there for a number of years it’s great to hear this theater lives on. However I’m trying to figure out just whats so grand about it. Both the Glen and the Wheaton Theaters were just plain jane big barns in their days. I grew up in Glen Ellyn and attended the DuPage, Glen, and the Wheaton theaters regularly and the Dupage was the only gem of the trio. Sadly the real gem is gone.