Midway Theatre
6250 S. Cottage Grove Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60637
6250 S. Cottage Grove Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60637
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Located in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side on Cottage Grove Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets, this theater originally opened as a vaudeville house in 1909. The Hippodrome was known as the Midway Hippodrome (due to its proximity to the Midway Plaisance Park) to differentiate it from a couple of other theaters called the Hippodrome in Chicago (such as Marlowe’s Hippodrome and the Lincoln Hippodrome).
It turned to movies in the 1920’s and by the early-1930’s, dropped the “Hippodrome” portion of its name. It continued to operate as a movie house at least into the 1950’s.
The Midway Theatre was also situated about halfway between two of Woodlawn’s premier entertainment palaces, which both were built a bit later, in the early-1920’s; the Tivoli Theatre and the Trianon Ballroom (the South Side “sister” to the North Side Aragon Ballroom). The Midway Theatre has long since been demolished, and today there are apartment buildings on the site.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Does anyone remember the name of the ice cream parlor on 63rd near Cottage Grove that served giant bowls of ice cream in the 60’s?
This theatre would have been very close to the Trianon Ballroom. If anyone has pics of either they’d be greatly appreciated.
This theater was also known as the Midway Follies at least during the 1920s.
I’d place the photo at 1924. The bank building just beyond the tracks was completed that year, the Gypsy Lane dine and dance (marquee visible on the left) was closed by 1928, and the theater itself is presenting ‘Shuffle Along’ on stage, which, after its Broadway run, went on a road tour that year.