Rex Theatre

Joe Vogel on February 22, 2012 at 8:37 pm

This house opened about 1915 as the Royal Theatre. The Prairie Style building was designed by the local architectural firm Peterson & Johnson. According to Rockford: 1920 and Beyond, by Eric A. Johnson, the house later operated as the Strand Theatre and then the Roxy Theatre before becoming the Rex.

The building originally had a “triumphal arch” entrance characteristic of small movie houses in the 1910s, and the peak of the arch could be seen above the streamlined marquee added later.