Park I & II Theatre
3015 Washington Avenue,
Racine,
WI
53405
3015 Washington Avenue,
Racine,
WI
53405
4 people
favorited this theater
The Capitol Theatre was built in 1920 as a neighorhood vaudeville and movie theatre the interior was beautifully finished with ornate plasterwork and stenciling. A large indirectly light oval covers three quarters of the auditorium ceiling. The proscenium is decorated with plaster ropes flowers and twists. Two pipe chambers complete with false boxes are located on either side of the stage. At one time the theatre boasted a 2/8 Wurlitzer pipe organ.
Twinned in 1976, the organ was removed and much of the plaster work covered. Closed in 1986, it has since been allow to suffer much decay and water damage.
Contributed by
Paul Grant
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Is this renovation work proceeding? The marquee is advertising judo classes, and the lobby appears to be full of old cash registers.
A photo in the September 12th, 1987 Racine Journal Times shows the Capitol with the second, triangular Art Deco marquee and the original four-story vertical sign which was fully operational and in use until 1981. At the sign’s top was a capitol-like dome and twisted ropelike chasers down to the bottom, a real treat to see at night reminding all of the golden age of the great verticals.
The report said it was twinned in the fall of 1975 (270 seats/240 seats, each with a tiny screen) and was then sold to Milwaukee-based Marcus Corporation in 1981 for $50,000. Marcus, for reasons of its own, then renamed the Capitol the “Park I & II”, and that’s when the vertical ‘Capitol’ sign was removed.
Marcus closed the theatre on Labor Day, 1987, admitting to poor business.
For six years a second-run house, Marcus did experiment with some first-run fare there in its final summer.
Photos of this theater are HERE
The Capitol’s organ was relocated to a newer minimalist-styled playhouse built by a local amateur live-theater group on Northwestern Avenue.
Here is another photo of the Park/Capitol Theater.
1983 Photo
The Header on this theatre chould be Park Theatre AKA Capitol. Park was the theatres last name.
I own a cinema in north WI and would love to help get the park going again. I grew up in the town and watched many movies there but I dont get back to Racine much anymore but I would if I could help get it going again. Who is working on the theatre still? Does anyone have a number and name of a contact? I went thru the park years ago when I was looking at theatres to buy. Last I heard the upstairs apts were being fixed up to rent out. Someone must know something up to date about the theatre. LMK please
bet was a beautiful single screen theatre.
My Grandfather Max Krofta owned the Capital Theater, he also owned the Granada on the north side of Racine I never met Max, he died before I was born. My mother had several boxes of photos she guarded like gold, some I remember are of the Capital and Granada. If anyone is interested I will go through them and post them. Max also owned or managed the Abby in Milwaukee and perhaps the Milwaukee Granada.