Ritz Theater
403 E. Main Street,
Belleville,
IL
62220
403 E. Main Street,
Belleville,
IL
62220
2 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1929 for the Bloomer Amusement Corporation, the Ritz Theater originally could seat 400 in its auditorium and balcony, and presented first-run sound movies.
When it first opened, the Ritz Theater featured ‘bargain’ ticket prices, at 20 cents, to compete with the nearby Lincoln Theater’s higher admission prices.
The Ritz Theater was completely remodeled and enlarged to 1,000 seats in January 1946. It was remodeled in the Art Moderne style, reopening with the film, “Christimas In Connecticut”.
The balcony was sealed off in 1971 and became a second auditorium, and this in turn was halved a decade later. Seating was also reduced in the main auditorium to around 400.
In 1990, BAC sold the Ritz to the Kerasotes chain, which screened second-run double features in the main auditorium and art films in the set of balcony screens, calling them ‘The Ritz Upstairs’.
This arrangement proved unsuccessful, and only lasted a short time.
The owner of the neighboring Lincoln Theater purchased the Ritz Theater from Kerasotes in 1997, but it would only remain open under this management briefly.
In 2000, the Ritz Theater was converted into a church.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
My husband and I are looking for old theater seats to purchase for our home theater please contact us at We live here in belleville on olive street.
Original name was the MIDLAND.
Parking, or lack of it, was the downfall of the Ritz. The theatre is at the far east end of downtown Belleville and never had a real easy place for customers to park. It is a shame this beautiful theatre has gone dark – it was/is beautiful and my very first job at 16 y.o. Before long, I became the Asst. Manager/Projectionist and had some of the best years of my life there! After cutting the balcony into two seperate but small theatres, the seating capasity for the main auditorium was about 375. The two screens “upstairs” sat 175 and 80 respectively. I certainly can remember when the Ritz could sell-out all three screens! Although it was said the theatre was haunted, I have to say I never saw any such activity – all I saw and remember are the best times of my life! At least the Ritz hasn’t been torn down and lives now as a church!
This is what the Ritz looked like in 1996.
There is a current photo on the church site. Go to www.faithbaptist-church.org and click “about”.
i work at the ritz too went it closed! julie was the manager. yeah people said it was haunted. very creepy during closing time
Below is a link to story about haunted history of the Ritz Theatre:
View link
Facelifting described in this 1973 trade article, which apparently contains an error in ownership: Boxoffice
Tinsdeltoes your right about the error, it should be Bloomer Amusement Co. BAC Ritz