Forest Theatre
7526 Madison Street,
Forest Park,
IL
60130
7526 Madison Street,
Forest Park,
IL
60130
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The Forest Park Theatre opened in 1920 at Madison Street and Des Plaines Avenue for the Ascher Brothers circuit. This 1500-seat theater originally featured both vaudeville as well as movies before turning to movies exclusively. The ‘Park’ portion of the theater’s name was dropped around the 30s. The Forest operated at least into the 60s, if not later. The theater has since been razed.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This was a nice place to take a date in the 50’s. Clean and comfortable. Now, a McDonald’s stands on the spot.
Henry L. Newhouse was announced as architect in the Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1919, pE23
A Barton theater organ size 2/6 was installed in the Forest Theater in 1928.
I am looking for photos, drawings, ground plans, remembrances etc. of the Henry L. Newhouse Forest Theatre 7526 Madison street, Forest Park, Illinois. I am located in NYC. Thank you.
Craig Jacobs
Here is a May 1956 ad from the Forest Park Review:
http://tinyurl.com/qdneum
The latest display ad I have found for the Forest Theater in the Chicago Tribune archives is dated February 16, 1961. They were running a double feature of “7 Hills To Rome” and “Houseboat.” So this is probably about when they closed. My mother says she went to see a movie there with my Dad when they lived in the area in the early 1950s. I currently live about a block away from where the theater was (there is a McDonald’s there now).
I’m positive the theater was torn down in the summer of 1963. I remember driving by with my mom on Des Plaines Ave. seeing the seats all exposed during the demolition. My family went there quite often, I particularly remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” there when the a/c wasn’t working. We felt like we were there in the desert with Moses.