Lincoln Theater
1656-8 Chicago Road,
Chicago Heights,
IL
60411
1656-8 Chicago Road,
Chicago Heights,
IL
60411
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Great States, Publix
Architects: Henry L. Newhouse
Previous Names: Lincoln-Dixie Theater, Lincoln Playhouse
Nearby Theaters
Opened on June 23, 1921 as the Lincoln-Dixie Theatre. The opening movie was William Farnum in in “The Spoilers”. It was part of the Publix Great States chain and featured vaudeville and occasional musical revues. It was closed in 1970 and was left vacant to be boarded up following a fire. It was demolished in February 1972.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Btkrefft – any chance I could get a scan of that Tribune page? My father moonlighted as the manager of the Lincoln and was there for the adult entertainment period. He has great stories from there and I know he would get a kick out of seeing one of the ads. A couple of times he took us to the theater while he worked around the place – I fell in love with movie palaces on one of those days. For there record, the only movie he ever took me to at the Lincoln was The Sound of Music, opening week, a private showing! I remember the projectionist was an older guy named Tony (of course I was only 8 so by older he may have been all of 30!) – he would send home his wife’s homemade meatballs for me. :–)
Address for the Western Lincoln matches that of the Marcus Cinema Chicago Heights.
Tinseltoes, that Boxoffice article was a good find! I forgot all about going to the Marcus Cinema Chicago Heights when it was a two screen, they just keep adding and adding to it!
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!
The original Lincoln-Dixie Kimball 2/7 Theatre pipe organ still survives today, with great thanks to Gary Rickert! He saved the organ and installed it in his home. Over the years, he preserved and enlarged it, all in the Kimball style, to 3 manuals / 15 ranks. Last year, he donated it to Lakeside High School in Ashtabla, Ohio and it was moved, rebuilt and re-installed by me, Vic Marsilio of Victor Organ, LLC. The instrument is alive and well in its new home.
Vic: Thanks for the update on the Kimball which originally resided at the Lincoln-Dixie Theatre. The choice to repair, preserve and expand pipe organs is a great thing to do involving a lot of sweat equity. Here’s a link to a story involving the transfer: http://www.atos.org/new-kimball-theatre-organ-ashtabula-oh-high-school
Added picture showing the end of the Lincoln Theatre. It was the nail in the coffin of a vibrant downtown Chicago Heights.
April 1, 1933 print ad via George W. Albrecht. Advertised at the time as A Publix Theatre. So Publix should be added as Previous Operators.
My father was a stockholder in this and other theaters. We would go there to do head counts. We would sit in the balcony which was closed. I remember seeing “How The West Was Won” and other movies there.
In June 1921 Fitzpatrick-McElroy acquired Carley & Hanson’s large, opulent 1600-seat Lincoln-Dixie theater in Chicago Heights – Film Daily reported the purchase that month. The Lincoln-Dixie theater probably opened on March 15, 1921 – Exhibitors Herald on April 9, 1921, referred to the “recent opening of the Lincoln-Dixie” theater in Chicago Heights (another source has June 23).
Publix acquired Fitzpatrick-McElroy in April 1929.