Home Theatre
116 E. Sangamon Avenue,
Rantoul,
IL
61866
116 E. Sangamon Avenue,
Rantoul,
IL
61866
1 person
favorited this theater
The 1930’s-era Art Deco style Home Theatre on Sangamon Avenue operated as a single-screen movie house until closing in the late-1970’s. Its owners opened a new twin screen theater in another part of Rantoul after moving from the Home Theatre, and renamed it the Wings Twin (q.v.), in honor of the now-closed Chanute Air Force base in town.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
The seat count is right. They may have changed the name before the official opening.
That’s possible. The name might have been proposed but never used. Someone with a 1941 or 1942 Film Daily could verify the information.
Interesting that the other theater in Rantoul was called Wings and was a Kerasotes theater, but apparently did not open until the late 1970s.
That is interesting. If I had to choose between Wings and Home for a name I would pick Wings.
1975 Photo
1983 Photo
1983 Photo
Here’s another one of my recent pictures of the Home Theatre:
View link
Love the old school looking marquee.
This is where I saw Star Wars in May of 1977. Rocked my world! I was in the Air Force and me and 4 or 5 other GIs went. Great memories!
A book called “Rantoul and Chanute Air Force Base” by Mark D. Hanson says that this house was operating in the 1920s as the Blackstone Theatre. Another house also called the Home Theatre was closed down when the Blackstone was renamed the New Home Theatre. The book doesn’t say when the renaming took place, nor when the “New” was dropped, but a 1942 photo in the book shows the same marquee that is currently on the building.
The Wings twin theatre is located a few blocks south of the Home Theatre, and is also closed. Both were once owned by Kerasotes; the Wings property might actually now belong to AMC as part of the 2010 Kerasotes purchase. The Wings plan was also built in Sullivan, MO.