State Theatre
11016-20 S. Michigan Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
11016-20 S. Michigan Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
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This theater, which was opened in 1922, was officially simply the State Theatre, though it was also known as the Roseland-State (as it was located in the heart of the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Roseland.)
It sat at the corner of South Michigan Avenue and 110th Street, in a two story, block-long building that also housed offices and stores.
It could seat a little over 2000, and was decorated with a highly ornate neoclassical terra-cotta facade, with an interior originally in elegant Renaissance style.
The State’s days as a movie house ended in the 70s, and afterward, it housed a church for many years until it was unfortunately demolished in 1997.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
The photo above is pretty close to how the building looked the last time I saw it (around 1990).
John,
I remember the swimming instructor at the 111th Street YMCA was a Bob Williams…by coincindence, he was also from my home town, Denison, Texas. Do you remember him?
Doug
Doug
Not that I recall. I only went there a couple times. Most of my swimming was at Palmer Park
John
Hi, I grew up in Roseland as did both my parents familys. I graduated from Fenger High in January 1965, and lived on 113th and Edbrooke Ave.. I guess we all thought we would raise our children there and they would attend the schools we did. I hear that the Pullman area still looks good, many of my family at one time worked for the Pullman company. I would love to hear from others that lived there.
Yes, it’s true, Red Skelton did play the State!
NEWS ITEM:
Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, May 19, 1959, s. 3, p. 10, c. 6:
RED, ONCE FIRED, BOUNCES BACK
SKELTON TELLS OF CHANGE, by Stephen Harrison
Richard Skelton, also known as Red and once fired here by popular request, returned Monday to the scene of the crime—rehired by popular request.
Can’t Vie with Legs
Having abandoned Vincennes, he was playing vaudevile in such landmarks as the Haymarket, the State & Congress, and the Gem, where aficionados paid a lot more attention to burlesque girls' legs than they ever did to Skelton.
[At the time of this item Skelton was headlining at the famed Chez Paree.]
Here is a 1958 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/4k7jsh
The 2009 CTA calendar features this image for August: View link
That calendar sure brought some memories especially the one showing corner of 111th and Michigan. Wow!!!
John Stitnizky
Decorator Rex Davis of the Teichert studios had some unkind things to say about the original decor of the State in this Boxoffice article of June 21, 1941. The house had just been redecorated by Teichert, under the direction of architect Roy B. Blass.
A 1940-dated photo of the State can be seen here.