Washington Theatre
1346 19th Street,
Granite City,
IL
62040
1346 19th Street,
Granite City,
IL
62040
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 32 comments found
The December 22, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News said that the Washington Theatre in Granite City had recently been bought by Skouras Brothers Enterprises. Skouras Brothers planned to expend about $25,000 for improvements to the house, including the installation of Vitaphone sound equipment. The value of the sale was not released, but MPM said that the estimated value of the Washington Theatre was $300,000.
Thanks for the time line on Fanchon & Marco’s St. Louis operations, JAlex. All I had was a few fragments I’ve picked up from various sources, some of which contradict each other.
And I’ll second Chuck’s call for a separate page for the first Washington Theatre. RetroMike’s comment of June 14 provides plenty of details for one.
Fanchon & Marco came into the St. Louis-market in October 1933 when they took over operation of the St. Louis Theatre. In January 1934 they took over operation of the Fox Theatre. Along the line they contracted with St. Louis Amusement for the operation of that firm’s theatres. In 1948 F&M acquired St. Louis Amusement. In 1957/58 the Arthur brothers acquired the St. Louis holdings of F&M, becoming Arthur Enterprises.
As for the Granite City Washington, it was first noted as a St. Louis Amusement operation late in 1929.
I’m puzzled by the references to the “Franchon and Marco circuit” and then “Francon and Marco Circuit” in this theater’s description. If it is meant to read Fanchon and Marco, it can’t possibly be true that they had anything to do with the first Washington Theatre. Fanchon and Marco were teenagers (born 1892 and 1894 respectively) in 1910 when the first Washington was built, and living in California.
Fanchon and Marco would not have built the second Washington Theatre either, as in 1923 they were still producing packaged stage shows, primarily for theaters on the west coast, and had not yet gone into direct operation of theaters (though it’s possible that their older brother Rube had begun building the Los Angeles area circuit he operated, South Side Theatres, by that time.)
As far as I’ve been able to determine, the Fanchon & Marco circuit began its partnership with Harry Arthur in 1934, when rapidly expanding F&M took a long-term lease on the St. Louis Fox Theatre, which Arthur had taken over a few years earlier when William Fox went broke. That was when Arthur joined F&M as general manager of their St. Louis operations. He did not acquire the circuit at that time, so much as the circuit acquired him along with the lease on the Fox.
Arthur might have taken complete control of F&M’s Midwestern operations later, as Fanchon Simon and Marco Wolf concentrated more on their other activities and their Los Angeles area theaters, but I haven’t found much information about that period of the company’s history.
Chuck, back in 2004 you posted a comment about some pictures of the theatre of the front and the lobby that you took. Can you please post these?
I don’t understand why the old Washington would be the default photo since this page is for the newer Wasington Theatre at 1346 19th St. Someone should create a page for the Old Washington Theatre and the photo should be posted there.
The address of the original Washington Theatre was 1332 19th St., and in later years after a rebuild it was moved to a different lot on the same block and the address was 1346. If you click on the photo’s tab you can see another picture that I posted of the theatre in it’s final location. The default picture for the overview page just happens to be the picture that is viewed the most times from the “photo” page.
The photo is of the original Washington Theatre, not the most current Washington. The photos that Lost Memory linked to on April 21, 2009 are photos of the Washington Theatre for this page.
In the 3rd quarter of 1910, construction began on the Washington Theatre. This was announced in a July, 1910 article from the local newspaper the “Granite City Press Record.”
Initially, there were plans to build a 3 story brick building at the intersection of Cleveland, 19th and “B” streets in Granite City as announced by the architect, G.Y. Murphy. This building would include the theatre, a hotel and business rooms. The plan never materialized but instead another development from Henry C. Buchterkerchen who was a Staunton, IL native was erected at 19th & “E” St.
The building contract was awarded to M.L. Denham and Co. of St. Louis Mo. and would be a two story brick building. The theatre was to be located on the alley between State St. and “E” Street, which was later known as Edison St., on the south side of 19th.
It was leased to L. Landau Jr. of St. Louis Mo. who was secretary and treasurer of a large vaudeville circuit and the president of the Columbia Amusement Company. The theatre was built primarily for motion picture and vaudeville use but also for conventions and other public meetings.
The original plans for the theatre were to include a seating capacity of 800 on the ground level and also include a large balcony. The building was to be 50X100 feet and have a 25 foot stage.
When the theatre opened on Saturday December 10, 1910, it was managed by C.H Dodge. Admission was ten cents for each seat and the program would change three times every week. The schedule would be Saturday-Sunday-Monday and Tuesday with new programs starting on Wednesday and again on Friday.
In February of 1911, Washington Theatre manager C.H. Dodge announced the planning of a “Summer Garden” at an expense of $4,000 to be constructed and opened on or about May 1, 1911 with a capacity of 1,200. The outdoor stage was 40 by 60 feet.
In June of 1911, plans were announced to enlarge the Washington theatre per the architect Charles Pauly & Sons. The plan calls for adding 500 seats increasing the theatre capacity to 1,300 seats. The rear wall was torn out and the orchestra pit set back to make room for the additional seats. The new stage was to be 50 feet wide by 30 feet deep and 30 feet high and would then be larger than the stage outside in the Airdome (Garden).
By 1914, the theatre manager was J.T. Gray.
Was this theatre originally a live theatre?
The year given for these photos is 1985:
Photo1
Photo2
They might have taken seats out after the fire but I doubt that this theater ever had 1,750 seats. The introduction gives seating of around 1,300 in 1923. In 1950 this theater had 1,100 seats.
Maybe they took out some seats after the fire, if they originally had 1750.
The introduction gives the year of the fire as 1946.
Here is an article dated 11/27/45 from the Edwardsville Intelligencer:
Granite City, Nov.27â€"Fire early today destroyed the interior of the Washington Theater here and caused damage estimated at $75,000. Fire chief Louis Grotz said the blaze apparently started in the projection booth shortly before 5 a.m. and spread quickly through the 1,750 seat structure along air conduits. Fire companies from Granite City and Madison finally brought the flames under control.
My grandfather, Patrick Marmion, was projectionist at the Washington throughout my youth and up until he died around 1963-64. He used to take me into the booth during movies and let me watch him change reels! The manager’s name was Christ Paschoff and he was the one that gave out the guitars. Surprisingly though, in all of the piles of films and photos belonging to my greandpa, there were NONE of the beautiful Washington Theater! If anyone can send me ANY photos I’d be forever greatful!
This is a program for the Washington Theater circa 1935.
A Barton theater organ was installed in the Washington Theater in 1923.
Thanks so much for sharing the picture of the Washington Theatre. I still have my August 1945 Telephone Directory, and the listing for the Theatreis 1336 19th Street, phone number TriCity-82. I remember the Usher’s, and walking up and down the aisle with them, when I was scared of the particular movie they were showing. I would attend every Saturday matinee’s, with my cousin’s Beverly and Vivian Hall. They never hot scared, but I did, I was a bit younger. This was in the late 1930’s and up until 1945. I was born in 1934, in Granite City, Saint ELizabeth Hospital. Please e-mail me if you have some more picutre’s, I would love to see them.
Gosh, I have so many fond memories of this place. I saw most movies from my childhood here and, later, at the Nameoki Cinema. I do believe it was likely the first movie theatre I’d ever been to; I can remember being carried into the Washington for a screening of “Deliverance,” and I really kicked up a fuss because I was frightened by the movie’s poster art.
Later I was there for “Jaws” and “Halloween,” and I remember begging my mother to let me see “The Omen” (which she refused). If we were downtown shopping, we always had to walk by so that I could see the movie posters and lobby cards. All the Disney movies I ever saw in a theatre were screened here. (I am guessing that the Washington had exclusive screening rights to Disney films.)
I remember the Saturday afternoon contests, though I never won anything. I also remember going to see a Christian-themed movie called “Time to Run,” where a pastor was in attendance; he sermonized after the movie was over and invited kids down to the front to be saved. My sister was one who took him up on it.
One thing that isn’t part of my Washington memories is sitting in the balcony. It was always roped off and closed whenever I was there.
I sure wish I could see some pictures of the place. So many happy memories…
Yah, that was my growing up theater(the second theater). They would rarely let us go up to the balcony and it was so cool up there. I sure miss the old huge, open theaters and wish they would stop tearing them down. Many, many fond memories and would love to see more pics. I couldn’t access most of the ones posted here. Anyway, thanks for the memories guys and I’ll be checking back.
LM, the post card is of the original Washignton Theatre (1st one) which was located just down the street from the second Washington.
The following link has a postcard picture of a Washington theater in Granite City. I don’t know if its the first or second Washington theater:
View link
Here is a photo that I took during the early 70’s of the Washington Theatre in Granite City.
View link
Charles,
If you can send any photos of the Washington to me, I would be glad to put them on a website for all to see. E-mail me at and I can post these pretty easily. I would love to see the old photos of a place I only have limited memories of. I seen the very first Haloween there, around 1978 and a handful of others, but was too young to really appreciate the Washington.
Rick Fowler