Moline architect M.R. Beckstrom drew up the Stark Theatre plans in 1936. It opened as a streamline moderne movie theatre and seems to be largely unchanged to its closure. The Stark Theatre opened on February 18, 1937 for Princeton’s H.V. and John W. Bailey with “Polo Joe” with Joe E. Brown. Lyle Leek dropped the venue to weekend plus operation in its final year. He closed it permanently on December 18, 1954. With just over 1,100 people in town, television had pretty much ruined small town movie houses like the Stark.
The vacant Stark Theatre attracted a new audience with a colony of bees in its marquee in July of 1957. Local beekeeper Henry Robots corralled them and added them to his colony. The theatre was razed on September 10, 1973. It opened and closed as the Stark.
Ah… indeed. Sorry. It returned to cinematic operation:
Over at Chestnut and Second, the space served as a long running silent movie house. The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon.
The Nickelodeon was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others as he - followed by Willard J. West - became the dominant early movie pioneers in Kewanee. Taylor was a 19th Century vaudeville and live showman who transitioned to early cinema. Kewanee doled out short-term, one year licenses to operators in the early days; so that encouraged a lot of moving about and name changing. That’s exactly what transpired at 205 North Chestnut was one such location.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
The next operator was Basil Argeropolis. Argeropolis ran the Olympia Theatre doors away and the Olympia Candy Kitchen. Argeropolis took on the location in October of 1912 returning it to cinematic capacity as the American Theater opening on October 5, 1912. (The newspaper account even cites the building’s absence and return as a cinema.) Argerpolis operated both theaters for a short period of time. He transferred the operations to C.M. Merritt at his retirement in late October of 1914.
Merritt appears to have reduced to one venue with the Olympia roosting here and open from 1914 to 1919. The Olympia changed from films in 1919 to live vaudeville in a last ditch effort to stay commercially viable. That didn’t work out with the Olympia ending its run with a vaudeville show on November 6, 1919 featuring Nichols & Taylor in “The Royal African Prince.” Later that month, the space was remodeled into the Exide Battery and Auto Service Station that opened in early 1920. This ended the location’s 12-year cinematic journey as better movie houses were built in Kewanee.
This entry should be the Olympia Theatre formerly the Nickelodeon Theater and American Theatre.
The Rialto opened in the existing Heaps Building on March 26, 1917 by Walter Taylor with “The Gates of Eden” and Weonna Campbell at the console of the $5,000 Seeburg Pipe Organ Orchestra.
The Rialto added sound to maintain commercial viability. On April 12, 1942, the Rialto played “The Mad Doctor of Market Street” and “Hands Across the Rockies” supported by the serial, “Don Winslow Joins the Navy.” The Rialto was then destroyed by fire on April 13, 1942… but they played out the remaining episodes of the serial at another theater.
The Majestic Theatre opened in 1907 by Ben Straight and Frank Davis. Its second operator with movies was Galesburg showman Willard J. West - his first of three movie houses in Kewanee in the Majestic, Grand, and Willard. West updated the venue in 1915 bringing in the first of two Bartola pipe organs to the building. That update also provided rose panels and Italian marble throughout.
In 1917, West provided the Majestic with its new Bartola pipe organ and it was played Bina Keaveny to great effect. The old Bartola pipe organ was moved to West’s Willard Theatre. Future Majestic organists were John Behan and Robert James Judie.
The Majestic’s final operator was Fred W. Shaver who gave it a final refresh in 1929. Shaver almost stubbornly presented silent films into early 1932 and the slogan “Good Old Organ Music All Appreciate.” And it was still the Bartola.
Having a silent movie house in 1932 made the town of Kewanee and the Majestic an outlier as most movie houses had either converted to audio or exited film exhibition. But 1932 was its last year of regular operation as it veered into very sporadic live events. Its last movies were shown silent in 1935. As it was reaching its 30-year leasing expiry, the venue was converted to retail for a Larkin’s store in early 1936.
The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music between in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon. It was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
This venue had a 33-year run as both opera house from 1899 to 1910 and as a silent-era movie house that was converted back to live programming before burning down in 1932. The Kewanee Opera House - the successor to McClure’s Opera House in that same building - was a 1,000 seat venue that closed on April 29, 1910 for a one month refresh by new owner and Galesburg movie house owner Willard J. West and his partner, Frank Theilen. When it re-emerged on June 6, 1910, it had a permanent screen at the rear of the building and a new name in the Grand Theatre mostly dedicated to movies with live vaudeville acts. It also had reduced seat count seemingly removing the balcony and boxes - but as noted above, it’s not clear what that count was. It did have new frescos painted on the walls and its exit doors and a larger stage.
Late in 1919, the Grand Theater’s run of movies was over and it scuffled under new operators. It had a return to live event programming including plays and minstrel shows booked by new operators W.T. Pierce and Fred Shaver in 1926 and 1927. But that was an unsuccessful run as Kewanee-sized towns had trouble supporting old opera house, live programming. So by the late 1920s and early 1930s, it added boxing and wrestling making the choice not to convert to sound films. Shows continued into 1932.
The Grand’s programming was so lightly regarded and sporadic that the newspaper said that the fire destroying it on September 24, 1933 took out a venue that had been more or less in darkness for six years. Said the reporter, “(The Grand) passes out of the pictures with no one particularly concerned” and - not a theatre - but a retail operation would hopefully take its place. The venue was also described as cavernous - not the greatest term for a showplace of the era.
The previous building, the New Opera House had opened on September 6, 1898; but it burned down on February 21, 1899 following a wrestling match after just five months of operation. The skeletal walls of the building were used in the new building. It was the New Opera House - and soon McClure’s Opera House - opening on October 19, 1899. Thomas McClure had entered into the project as it was being rebuilt. The venue shows early moving pictures before the turn of the century. With the opening of its new season on August 22 1906, it was decided to call it the Kewanee Opera House. It retained that name through its final show of its season on April 29, 1910. The Grand operated under that name 22 of its 33 year run.
The 1,400-seat Air Dome opened on June 1, 1908 and operated seasonally in 1908, 1909 and 1910 with the ventilation challenged Opera House as the rain location. In April of 1911, a salvage sale was held with demolition occurring in May of 1911 to make way for the new Elks Lodge.
Dreamland “#1” opened in the Hotel Main Building on May 24, 1907 after a test screening two days earlier at 206 N. Main in the Hotel Main Building at 208 N. Main. Lina Clark accompanied the songs and the Pathé films that were mixed in with live acts. Vitagraph and other films were part of the mix as the short movies were easier to program and enjoyed. It has its own entry as the Dreamland Theatre.
Chris Taylor moved the venue across the street here to new digs in 1912 as Dreamland “#2”. That building apparently replaced the existing Dickey Building. When Willard J. West, he of Galesburg’s West Theatre, took on the venue in 1913, he renamed it the Willard Theatre That’s this entry which spent more time as the Willard Theatre - the name of this entry. He had it reseated with 300 white maple opera house chairs and renamed it the Willard Theatre beginning on December 12, 1913.
Taylor reacquired the operation closing it on January 8, 1922 with “False Brands” and “Dixie Madcaps” supported by a serial. With the closing of the Willard, the continuing serial moved to the Rialto. In February of 1922, the white maple seating and projection equipment was gone in favor of a retail store.
In the 1910s, Taylor had opened the Tabard Theatre which became Dreamland “#3” at 108 W. 3d Street (it has its own entry - likely as the Garden Theatre).
So to recap: Dreamland “#1” was in the Hotel Main Building - carrying the 206 N. Main address at the Hotel Main at 208 W. Main. (The picture above is from 1910 and it not from 205 N. Main but 206 N. Main and should be moved to that entry.)
This entry: Dreamland “#2” became the Willard Theatre at 205 N. Main. This entry should be the Willard Theatre formerly the Dreamland (“#2” if that helps).
Dreamland “#3” became the Garden Theatre after opening as the Tabard Theatre (108 W. 3rd Street). Its entry should be the Garden Theatre (formerly the Tabard and formerly the Dreamland [“#3” if that helps]).
Chris Taylor opened the New Dreamland / Dreamland (“#2”) elsewhere in 1912, as well as Dreamland #1 in 1907 in the Hotel Main. Here, in the Gould Building, Taylor and business associate Mr. Beard, had their names fused together - as explained by naming contest winner Wilnia Bowman - to create the 312-seat Tabard Theatre launching March 24, 1912. Ernest Lindbeck was the first person to actually purchase a ticket that day as Bowman’s money was a guest of the theater’s. The projection booth was built in steel and concrete to protect against a spreading fire.
Even though its pronunciation was also explained, nobody knew how to properly pronounce it. So Taylor went for the hat trick on January 29, 1914 renaming here as the Dreamland (“#3”) with “The Adventures of Kathlyn.” The theatre lists regular shows until October 13, 1918’s showing of Marion Davies first starring role in “Runaway Roman.” It then played sporadic shows likely to complete booking engagements in December.
John Rood took on the venue in January of 1919 hanging vines and using lots of artificial flowers in the renaming of the building as the Garden Theatre. It was advertised as “The Small House with the Big Show.” Rood sold out to Harold Eckenfelder of Peru, Illinois - a road show film operator who had two Simplex projectors he took to small towns and villages in the area. The Garden operated until May of 1921 when it closed permanently. The former Tabard / Dreamland / Garden was torn out for a barber shop and a retail store in 1921 and 1922.
Ralph C. Harris drew the first draft of this venue in 1916. He then made a revised effort in 1920. He was shooting for a Roman Pompeian interior and mural work reminding folks of Roman baths. An Illinois-based, Smith Unit pipe organ wowed audiences at the opening on December 1, 1920.
Publix rebooted the Plaza as the streamline moderne Kee Theatre on Christmas Day 1937 with High Flyers and The Westland Case. It played “Rise and Shine” on the first of three playdates on April 12, 1942 but before the second playdate, the building exploded taking much of downtown with it. It was rebuilt and opened on March 1, 1945 with The Great Barn Dance. The Kee wasn’t a match for the lure of television closing on May 11, 1952 with The Marrying Kind.
The Wanee Drive-In opened with “Fort Defiance" on May 8, 1952. Kerasotes ran it to the end of lease closing on Labor Day, September 7, 1981 with “Tarzan, the Ape Man” and “Clash of the Titans.”
The Galva Theatre opened on May 18, 1927 with “Slide Kelly, Slide.” It replaced the Princess Theatre - its neighbor - a a new-build two-story structure. Elmer Borg played the $4,000 pipe organ. It lasted one year without converting to sound. Hippler, Terpening & Peak bought the venue and converted it to sound to remain commercially viable. Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Weece took it on from 1930 to 1945. Wayne Maxwell took it on running to end of lease in 1947.
The Marchesi Brothers Circuit - run by August and James - bought the theatre in 1947 giving it its streamline moderne look. They closed the venue on November 28, 1960. But the Galva mounted a comeback on April 2, 1961 when Fred and Frances Thompson reopened it. He died in February of 1969 and Frances operated it until closure on July 13, 1969 with “Hawaii.” She noted that only two people came to see “Born Free” and that was pretty much it. The Best Block housing the Princess was torn down along with the theatre in the 2010s.
Hate to be a contrarian but the listing is mostly discussing the Grand Theatre as the silent movie house. Robert T. LaGrille opened the Grand Photo Play in the Galt & Tracy block in 1914 at 314 Locust to show moving pictures. In 1916, it swapped Theatre for Photo Play. Final operators of the Grand were George L. Greenough and W.A. Weeks.
In 1923, they built a mammoth 1,000 seat venue called the Illini Theatre launching March 1O, 1924 right across the street. (It would be renamed the Sterling Theatre in 1930 and has its own Cinema Treasure listing.) Three months later, the Grand suffered a projection fire on June 16, 1924 and did not appear to reopen. An article suggests that a proposal to repair the building was too high and the lobby space used as a produce stand. In 1929 and 1930, the space was gutted and floor leveled for retail purposes.
The upper floor Academy of Music had opened on December 4, 1878 with a traveling concert by the Marie Roze-Mapleson (she the singer and he the director). The first films were shown there in 1897, the first fire caused by the films was in 1898 with a 1901 fire almost destroying the building. In the silent era, larger “road show” movies were shown in the upper floor Opera House and advertised as occurring at the Academy of Music including D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” and “Intolerance.” Second-floor opera houses were in steep decline due to safety concerns and the lack of a need for opera houses as their profitability had waned during World War I in smaller cities and towns.
The Academy of Music’s opera house space on the second floor was converted to a Dance Hall opening December 9, 1925 effectively ending the Academy as it was created. Events at the hall were advertised as transpiring at the Academy of Music until its final event in 1931. Sears moved in in 1940. The third floor space not captured by the Dance Hall or the Sears retail store that followed apparently remains or remained into the 21st Century. The lettering of the Academy was removed by Sears and restored decades later.
This entry should be the Grand Theatre formerly the Grand Photo Play (not the Academy “theatre”).
The Eri-Lyn Drive-In opened on May 31, 1968 with “Marriage on the Rocks” and “Never Too Late.” Its capacity was 382 cars. The Eri-Lyn closed on Labor Day, September 3, 1985 with “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and a variety of Walt Disney cartoon shorts.
The new-build theatre was build by Schmidt Brothers which apparently demolished both the Conde Hardware and Tin Store - whose final sale was a lumber sale from their actual building - and John Hoppler and Son’s Oakland Automobile Agency (which scooted over to 414 Locust and, in 1926, added the GM lower-cost Pontiac to the Oakland line). The plans for the Illini were by H.I. Booth with Ashby, Ashby and Schulz as associate architects. The Illini Theatre opened on March 10, 1924 with “Big Brother” featuring Tom Moore.
George L. Greenough and W.A. Weeks had operated the Grand Theatre across the street in the venerable Galt & Tracy Block that housed the Academy of Music. The Grand had opened in 1914 and became undersized for its needs though lasting to 1928 before becoming a ballroom. Meanwhile, the Academy of Music was flagging as live event venues in small-sized towns and medium-sized cities had been under financial pressure since World War I. Additionally, second floor opera houses were in quick descent as their safety was often questionable at best. A ground floor option combining live events and film was decided upon.
In 1923, Greenough and Weeks built a mammoth 1,000 seat venue called the Illini Theatre launching March 10, 1924 right across the street from their baby Grand and behind the Greyhound Bus terminal. The $150,000 Illini Theatre would also share its entry with the Greyhound Bus depot. Local organist Mary Celeste Ward was at the console of the venue’s $12,000 Bartola pipe organ on the March 10, 1924 opening show. (The organ was said to have been produced for Barton by the Wangerin Organ Company in Milwaukee.)
Three months after launching the Illini, the Grand suffered a projection fire on June 16, 1924 and did not appear to reopen. Max and Herman Louis Gumbiner’s Gumbiner Bros. Enterprises, a Chicago-based theatre circuit, took on the Illini effective January 1, 1926. Great Lakes operated the venue. On October 30, 1929, Vitaphone was in and organist Nova Morehouse was let go.
In 1930, the theater got its fourth owner in Lucas Circuit (Sterling Theatre Company) which also had operated the Lincoln Theatre. They installed a new sound system and name. On October 7, 1930, it became the Sterling Theatre with The Rockettes and three vaudeville acts supporting the feature film, “Following Thru.”
Lucas decided to reinstitute live organ music and searched for a player. They hired Mary Celeste Ward, the original organist who - after a brief radio organist job in radio at Iowa City’s WSUI - returned on October 11, 1930 and played virtually every night at the Sterling Theatre thereafter including June 1, 1942’s film line-up before dying on her way home after that show. The original Sterling Theatre was destroyed a year later by fire on July 9, 1943 in what appears in photos to be a projection booth explosion.
The Sterling’s operators, J.C. Kantos and Franklin Ford, got permission from the War Production Board on December 15, 1943 to rebuild in the same spot. The pair signed Dixon-based architect John R. McClane and he delivered a new 1,020 seat New Sterling Theatre. The streamline moderne house launched on September 28, 1944 and had a very successful run into the 21st Century.
If you want more specific and less guessy info, this was actually opened as the Electric Airdome on August 7, 1907. It was enclose and became the Family Theatre on October 9, 1909. After a change in ownership by W.H. Schraeder and refresh, the venue reopened as the Vaudette Show on April 12, 1912 and the Vaudette Theatre ye year’s end.
The Vaudette was under pressure from the Lincoln and Illini theaters. It was closed for fire safety issues and - while making those corrections - burned down a month later. The pre-closure
films of Reginald Denny in “Oh Doctor” supported by the comedy short, the Roy Del Ruth directed “Deep Sea Panic” on April 20, 1925 became its final night.
If you want dates that are a little less guessy, this may be for you. The venue initially opened as the Lincoln Theatre on April 5, 1920 with Crauford Kent in “Other Men’s Shoes.” Great States Theatres Circuit opened the Illini Theatre in 1924 - a move that would all but end the Vaudette and Academy - and took on the Grand and the Lincoln Theatre.
Great States had a plan on the table to remodel the Grand at $15,000 likely with sound and opted, instead, to lease it in March of 1928 where it was converted to a ballroom ending its run. That reduced Sterling to the Illini and Lincoln. Both were equipped with sound.
Great States dropped the Lincoln closing for the summer in June of 1930. The five theater town was down to just one operating venue in the Depression. However, a new operator reopened after three closed summers on September 2, 1932. That was not a success.
But the Lincoln proved to be a survivor and reopened under new management on November 10, 1934 as the State Theatre with “King Priest.” That included a new exterior that had a streamline look. It converted to widescreen to present CinemaScope titles.
In 1978, it was refurbished one last time rebooting as the First Avenue Cinema. In 1979, it transitioned to the Teatro Cinema showing Spanish language films apparently on a sublease. In its final stretch as the Cinema Theater, Kerasotes ended things with a “Silver Bullet” on October 29, 1985.
Steward’s Grand Opera House was established in Plano in the late 19th Century. At some point, the original building was replaced with a new building and dropping Steward’s name. It shifted to movie in the 1910s and went by the Grand Theatre - dated to at least 1922 by the moniker. They installed a costly new pipe organ in July of 1925 to improve presentations.
The Grand was sold by Frank Boget and Ingersoll along with the Sandwich’s American Theatre on October 21, 1928 to R.A. Shobe. Shobe rewired both venues for sound to remain commercially viable. George Huth took it over in 1930.
In 1937, the venue got a streamline moderne makeover. In October of 1947, it was renamed the Plano Theater. But the theatre struggled to survive reducing showtimes to four days a week, showing more Spanish language films to cater to the Hispanic population, and changing operators at least three times. Joe M. Smith and Mrs. Steven Nadolny operated it for just a year in 1975 closing in 1976.
Final operator Michael Burdick took it on in June of 1976 giving it new projection equipment and reducing seat count from 410 to its final count of 305. The retrofit of $56,000 may have been a bit more than the venue made. It stopped advertising after the September 8, 1978 showings of “Grease.”
First advertised as the American Theatre in 1921 and operated by Ingersoll & Boget. It took the place of the Sandwich Opera House as the number one entertainment place in town. R.A. Shobe of Monticello, Illinois took on the venue to modernize it. On November 5, 1929, the theater had a new lobby and Phototone sound system becoming the Avalon Theatre. In December of 1933, under new owners, the venue became the State Theatre: “The Biggest Little Theatre in Northern Illinois.”
The State transitioned to widescreen projection. On August, 5, 1964, the State Theatre discontinued advertising with “How the West Was Won.” The entry should be the State Theatre formerly the American Theatre formerly the Avalon Theatre and purportedly the Chi Theatre. Operator Paul Sweeney noted that during his tenure as the State Theatre, the venue sold 1.2 million admissions - certainly enough to call this theatre the State.
The Harvard Opera House opened in the 1870s here - one of two opera houses in Harvard operating into the 20th Century. Then it was renamed as the Majestic Theatre on March 13, 1915 featuring Al Jennings in “Beating Back” supported with a new pipe organ. On March 3, 1928, the venue was renamed by new operator Nat Wayne as the Metro Theatre with “The 13th Hour” and Tuttle, The Great Magician on the stage.
On November 16, 1930, the venue was taken over by A.E. Pierce who renamed it as the Harvard Theatre with “The Untold Three” with Lon Chaney now with sound. It closed in 1934 and reopened with new operator Bill Johnson. He gave the Harvard a streamline look on August 2, 1936 likely ordering a sign that didn’t arrive saying, “Roxy.” The venue improved exhibition with RCA sound which began on December 24, 1936 under the venue’s new name as the Roxy Theatre.
Fore reasons unclear, Johnson renamed the venue as the Harvard Theatre - its second time around on that name - on January 12, 1950 with a refresh including new setting and a cycloramic film theater. The Harvard Theatre was closed on December 31, 1953 with “The Fuller Brush Man” and sold to non-theatrical interests. In the 1970s, the competing theater would also become the Harvard Theatre (“#2”).
Opened by Marion Bodwell on October 24, 1923 in the existing Harty’s Hall as the Paramount Theatre with “When Knighthood was in Flower.”
Moline architect M.R. Beckstrom drew up the Stark Theatre plans in 1936. It opened as a streamline moderne movie theatre and seems to be largely unchanged to its closure. The Stark Theatre opened on February 18, 1937 for Princeton’s H.V. and John W. Bailey with “Polo Joe” with Joe E. Brown. Lyle Leek dropped the venue to weekend plus operation in its final year. He closed it permanently on December 18, 1954. With just over 1,100 people in town, television had pretty much ruined small town movie houses like the Stark.
The vacant Stark Theatre attracted a new audience with a colony of bees in its marquee in July of 1957. Local beekeeper Henry Robots corralled them and added them to his colony. The theatre was razed on September 10, 1973. It opened and closed as the Stark.
Ah… indeed. Sorry. It returned to cinematic operation:
Over at Chestnut and Second, the space served as a long running silent movie house. The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon.
The Nickelodeon was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others as he - followed by Willard J. West - became the dominant early movie pioneers in Kewanee. Taylor was a 19th Century vaudeville and live showman who transitioned to early cinema. Kewanee doled out short-term, one year licenses to operators in the early days; so that encouraged a lot of moving about and name changing. That’s exactly what transpired at 205 North Chestnut was one such location.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
The next operator was Basil Argeropolis. Argeropolis ran the Olympia Theatre doors away and the Olympia Candy Kitchen. Argeropolis took on the location in October of 1912 returning it to cinematic capacity as the American Theater opening on October 5, 1912. (The newspaper account even cites the building’s absence and return as a cinema.) Argerpolis operated both theaters for a short period of time. He transferred the operations to C.M. Merritt at his retirement in late October of 1914.
Merritt appears to have reduced to one venue with the Olympia roosting here and open from 1914 to 1919. The Olympia changed from films in 1919 to live vaudeville in a last ditch effort to stay commercially viable. That didn’t work out with the Olympia ending its run with a vaudeville show on November 6, 1919 featuring Nichols & Taylor in “The Royal African Prince.” Later that month, the space was remodeled into the Exide Battery and Auto Service Station that opened in early 1920. This ended the location’s 12-year cinematic journey as better movie houses were built in Kewanee.
This entry should be the Olympia Theatre formerly the Nickelodeon Theater and American Theatre.
The Rialto opened in the existing Heaps Building on March 26, 1917 by Walter Taylor with “The Gates of Eden” and Weonna Campbell at the console of the $5,000 Seeburg Pipe Organ Orchestra.
The Rialto added sound to maintain commercial viability. On April 12, 1942, the Rialto played “The Mad Doctor of Market Street” and “Hands Across the Rockies” supported by the serial, “Don Winslow Joins the Navy.” The Rialto was then destroyed by fire on April 13, 1942… but they played out the remaining episodes of the serial at another theater.
The Majestic Theatre opened in 1907 by Ben Straight and Frank Davis. Its second operator with movies was Galesburg showman Willard J. West - his first of three movie houses in Kewanee in the Majestic, Grand, and Willard. West updated the venue in 1915 bringing in the first of two Bartola pipe organs to the building. That update also provided rose panels and Italian marble throughout.
In 1917, West provided the Majestic with its new Bartola pipe organ and it was played Bina Keaveny to great effect. The old Bartola pipe organ was moved to West’s Willard Theatre. Future Majestic organists were John Behan and Robert James Judie.
The Majestic’s final operator was Fred W. Shaver who gave it a final refresh in 1929. Shaver almost stubbornly presented silent films into early 1932 and the slogan “Good Old Organ Music All Appreciate.” And it was still the Bartola.
Having a silent movie house in 1932 made the town of Kewanee and the Majestic an outlier as most movie houses had either converted to audio or exited film exhibition. But 1932 was its last year of regular operation as it veered into very sporadic live events. Its last movies were shown silent in 1935. As it was reaching its 30-year leasing expiry, the venue was converted to retail for a Larkin’s store in early 1936.
The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music between in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon. It was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
This venue had a 33-year run as both opera house from 1899 to 1910 and as a silent-era movie house that was converted back to live programming before burning down in 1932. The Kewanee Opera House - the successor to McClure’s Opera House in that same building - was a 1,000 seat venue that closed on April 29, 1910 for a one month refresh by new owner and Galesburg movie house owner Willard J. West and his partner, Frank Theilen. When it re-emerged on June 6, 1910, it had a permanent screen at the rear of the building and a new name in the Grand Theatre mostly dedicated to movies with live vaudeville acts. It also had reduced seat count seemingly removing the balcony and boxes - but as noted above, it’s not clear what that count was. It did have new frescos painted on the walls and its exit doors and a larger stage.
Late in 1919, the Grand Theater’s run of movies was over and it scuffled under new operators. It had a return to live event programming including plays and minstrel shows booked by new operators W.T. Pierce and Fred Shaver in 1926 and 1927. But that was an unsuccessful run as Kewanee-sized towns had trouble supporting old opera house, live programming. So by the late 1920s and early 1930s, it added boxing and wrestling making the choice not to convert to sound films. Shows continued into 1932.
The Grand’s programming was so lightly regarded and sporadic that the newspaper said that the fire destroying it on September 24, 1933 took out a venue that had been more or less in darkness for six years. Said the reporter, “(The Grand) passes out of the pictures with no one particularly concerned” and - not a theatre - but a retail operation would hopefully take its place. The venue was also described as cavernous - not the greatest term for a showplace of the era.
The previous building, the New Opera House had opened on September 6, 1898; but it burned down on February 21, 1899 following a wrestling match after just five months of operation. The skeletal walls of the building were used in the new building. It was the New Opera House - and soon McClure’s Opera House - opening on October 19, 1899. Thomas McClure had entered into the project as it was being rebuilt. The venue shows early moving pictures before the turn of the century. With the opening of its new season on August 22 1906, it was decided to call it the Kewanee Opera House. It retained that name through its final show of its season on April 29, 1910. The Grand operated under that name 22 of its 33 year run.
The 1,400-seat Air Dome opened on June 1, 1908 and operated seasonally in 1908, 1909 and 1910 with the ventilation challenged Opera House as the rain location. In April of 1911, a salvage sale was held with demolition occurring in May of 1911 to make way for the new Elks Lodge.
Dreamland “#1” opened in the Hotel Main Building on May 24, 1907 after a test screening two days earlier at 206 N. Main in the Hotel Main Building at 208 N. Main. Lina Clark accompanied the songs and the Pathé films that were mixed in with live acts. Vitagraph and other films were part of the mix as the short movies were easier to program and enjoyed. It has its own entry as the Dreamland Theatre.
Chris Taylor moved the venue across the street here to new digs in 1912 as Dreamland “#2”. That building apparently replaced the existing Dickey Building. When Willard J. West, he of Galesburg’s West Theatre, took on the venue in 1913, he renamed it the Willard Theatre That’s this entry which spent more time as the Willard Theatre - the name of this entry. He had it reseated with 300 white maple opera house chairs and renamed it the Willard Theatre beginning on December 12, 1913.
Taylor reacquired the operation closing it on January 8, 1922 with “False Brands” and “Dixie Madcaps” supported by a serial. With the closing of the Willard, the continuing serial moved to the Rialto. In February of 1922, the white maple seating and projection equipment was gone in favor of a retail store.
In the 1910s, Taylor had opened the Tabard Theatre which became Dreamland “#3” at 108 W. 3d Street (it has its own entry - likely as the Garden Theatre).
So to recap: Dreamland “#1” was in the Hotel Main Building - carrying the 206 N. Main address at the Hotel Main at 208 W. Main. (The picture above is from 1910 and it not from 205 N. Main but 206 N. Main and should be moved to that entry.)
This entry: Dreamland “#2” became the Willard Theatre at 205 N. Main. This entry should be the Willard Theatre formerly the Dreamland (“#2” if that helps).
Dreamland “#3” became the Garden Theatre after opening as the Tabard Theatre (108 W. 3rd Street). Its entry should be the Garden Theatre (formerly the Tabard and formerly the Dreamland [“#3” if that helps]).
Chris Taylor opened the New Dreamland / Dreamland (“#2”) elsewhere in 1912, as well as Dreamland #1 in 1907 in the Hotel Main. Here, in the Gould Building, Taylor and business associate Mr. Beard, had their names fused together - as explained by naming contest winner Wilnia Bowman - to create the 312-seat Tabard Theatre launching March 24, 1912. Ernest Lindbeck was the first person to actually purchase a ticket that day as Bowman’s money was a guest of the theater’s. The projection booth was built in steel and concrete to protect against a spreading fire.
Even though its pronunciation was also explained, nobody knew how to properly pronounce it. So Taylor went for the hat trick on January 29, 1914 renaming here as the Dreamland (“#3”) with “The Adventures of Kathlyn.” The theatre lists regular shows until October 13, 1918’s showing of Marion Davies first starring role in “Runaway Roman.” It then played sporadic shows likely to complete booking engagements in December.
John Rood took on the venue in January of 1919 hanging vines and using lots of artificial flowers in the renaming of the building as the Garden Theatre. It was advertised as “The Small House with the Big Show.” Rood sold out to Harold Eckenfelder of Peru, Illinois - a road show film operator who had two Simplex projectors he took to small towns and villages in the area. The Garden operated until May of 1921 when it closed permanently. The former Tabard / Dreamland / Garden was torn out for a barber shop and a retail store in 1921 and 1922.
Ralph C. Harris drew the first draft of this venue in 1916. He then made a revised effort in 1920. He was shooting for a Roman Pompeian interior and mural work reminding folks of Roman baths. An Illinois-based, Smith Unit pipe organ wowed audiences at the opening on December 1, 1920.
Publix rebooted the Plaza as the streamline moderne Kee Theatre on Christmas Day 1937 with High Flyers and The Westland Case. It played “Rise and Shine” on the first of three playdates on April 12, 1942 but before the second playdate, the building exploded taking much of downtown with it. It was rebuilt and opened on March 1, 1945 with The Great Barn Dance. The Kee wasn’t a match for the lure of television closing on May 11, 1952 with The Marrying Kind.
The Wanee Drive-In opened with “Fort Defiance" on May 8, 1952. Kerasotes ran it to the end of lease closing on Labor Day, September 7, 1981 with “Tarzan, the Ape Man” and “Clash of the Titans.”
The Galva Theatre opened on May 18, 1927 with “Slide Kelly, Slide.” It replaced the Princess Theatre - its neighbor - a a new-build two-story structure. Elmer Borg played the $4,000 pipe organ. It lasted one year without converting to sound. Hippler, Terpening & Peak bought the venue and converted it to sound to remain commercially viable. Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Weece took it on from 1930 to 1945. Wayne Maxwell took it on running to end of lease in 1947.
The Marchesi Brothers Circuit - run by August and James - bought the theatre in 1947 giving it its streamline moderne look. They closed the venue on November 28, 1960. But the Galva mounted a comeback on April 2, 1961 when Fred and Frances Thompson reopened it. He died in February of 1969 and Frances operated it until closure on July 13, 1969 with “Hawaii.” She noted that only two people came to see “Born Free” and that was pretty much it. The Best Block housing the Princess was torn down along with the theatre in the 2010s.
Hate to be a contrarian but the listing is mostly discussing the Grand Theatre as the silent movie house. Robert T. LaGrille opened the Grand Photo Play in the Galt & Tracy block in 1914 at 314 Locust to show moving pictures. In 1916, it swapped Theatre for Photo Play. Final operators of the Grand were George L. Greenough and W.A. Weeks.
In 1923, they built a mammoth 1,000 seat venue called the Illini Theatre launching March 1O, 1924 right across the street. (It would be renamed the Sterling Theatre in 1930 and has its own Cinema Treasure listing.) Three months later, the Grand suffered a projection fire on June 16, 1924 and did not appear to reopen. An article suggests that a proposal to repair the building was too high and the lobby space used as a produce stand. In 1929 and 1930, the space was gutted and floor leveled for retail purposes.
The upper floor Academy of Music had opened on December 4, 1878 with a traveling concert by the Marie Roze-Mapleson (she the singer and he the director). The first films were shown there in 1897, the first fire caused by the films was in 1898 with a 1901 fire almost destroying the building. In the silent era, larger “road show” movies were shown in the upper floor Opera House and advertised as occurring at the Academy of Music including D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” and “Intolerance.” Second-floor opera houses were in steep decline due to safety concerns and the lack of a need for opera houses as their profitability had waned during World War I in smaller cities and towns.
The Academy of Music’s opera house space on the second floor was converted to a Dance Hall opening December 9, 1925 effectively ending the Academy as it was created. Events at the hall were advertised as transpiring at the Academy of Music until its final event in 1931. Sears moved in in 1940. The third floor space not captured by the Dance Hall or the Sears retail store that followed apparently remains or remained into the 21st Century. The lettering of the Academy was removed by Sears and restored decades later.
This entry should be the Grand Theatre formerly the Grand Photo Play (not the Academy “theatre”).
The Eri-Lyn Drive-In opened on May 31, 1968 with “Marriage on the Rocks” and “Never Too Late.” Its capacity was 382 cars. The Eri-Lyn closed on Labor Day, September 3, 1985 with “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and a variety of Walt Disney cartoon shorts.
August 24, 1950 grand opening with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
The new-build theatre was build by Schmidt Brothers which apparently demolished both the Conde Hardware and Tin Store - whose final sale was a lumber sale from their actual building - and John Hoppler and Son’s Oakland Automobile Agency (which scooted over to 414 Locust and, in 1926, added the GM lower-cost Pontiac to the Oakland line). The plans for the Illini were by H.I. Booth with Ashby, Ashby and Schulz as associate architects. The Illini Theatre opened on March 10, 1924 with “Big Brother” featuring Tom Moore.
George L. Greenough and W.A. Weeks had operated the Grand Theatre across the street in the venerable Galt & Tracy Block that housed the Academy of Music. The Grand had opened in 1914 and became undersized for its needs though lasting to 1928 before becoming a ballroom. Meanwhile, the Academy of Music was flagging as live event venues in small-sized towns and medium-sized cities had been under financial pressure since World War I. Additionally, second floor opera houses were in quick descent as their safety was often questionable at best. A ground floor option combining live events and film was decided upon.
In 1923, Greenough and Weeks built a mammoth 1,000 seat venue called the Illini Theatre launching March 10, 1924 right across the street from their baby Grand and behind the Greyhound Bus terminal. The $150,000 Illini Theatre would also share its entry with the Greyhound Bus depot. Local organist Mary Celeste Ward was at the console of the venue’s $12,000 Bartola pipe organ on the March 10, 1924 opening show. (The organ was said to have been produced for Barton by the Wangerin Organ Company in Milwaukee.)
Three months after launching the Illini, the Grand suffered a projection fire on June 16, 1924 and did not appear to reopen. Max and Herman Louis Gumbiner’s Gumbiner Bros. Enterprises, a Chicago-based theatre circuit, took on the Illini effective January 1, 1926. Great Lakes operated the venue. On October 30, 1929, Vitaphone was in and organist Nova Morehouse was let go.
In 1930, the theater got its fourth owner in Lucas Circuit (Sterling Theatre Company) which also had operated the Lincoln Theatre. They installed a new sound system and name. On October 7, 1930, it became the Sterling Theatre with The Rockettes and three vaudeville acts supporting the feature film, “Following Thru.”
Lucas decided to reinstitute live organ music and searched for a player. They hired Mary Celeste Ward, the original organist who - after a brief radio organist job in radio at Iowa City’s WSUI - returned on October 11, 1930 and played virtually every night at the Sterling Theatre thereafter including June 1, 1942’s film line-up before dying on her way home after that show. The original Sterling Theatre was destroyed a year later by fire on July 9, 1943 in what appears in photos to be a projection booth explosion.
The Sterling’s operators, J.C. Kantos and Franklin Ford, got permission from the War Production Board on December 15, 1943 to rebuild in the same spot. The pair signed Dixon-based architect John R. McClane and he delivered a new 1,020 seat New Sterling Theatre. The streamline moderne house launched on September 28, 1944 and had a very successful run into the 21st Century.
If you want more specific and less guessy info, this was actually opened as the Electric Airdome on August 7, 1907. It was enclose and became the Family Theatre on October 9, 1909. After a change in ownership by W.H. Schraeder and refresh, the venue reopened as the Vaudette Show on April 12, 1912 and the Vaudette Theatre ye year’s end.
The Vaudette was under pressure from the Lincoln and Illini theaters. It was closed for fire safety issues and - while making those corrections - burned down a month later. The pre-closure films of Reginald Denny in “Oh Doctor” supported by the comedy short, the Roy Del Ruth directed “Deep Sea Panic” on April 20, 1925 became its final night.
If you want dates that are a little less guessy, this may be for you. The venue initially opened as the Lincoln Theatre on April 5, 1920 with Crauford Kent in “Other Men’s Shoes.” Great States Theatres Circuit opened the Illini Theatre in 1924 - a move that would all but end the Vaudette and Academy - and took on the Grand and the Lincoln Theatre.
Great States had a plan on the table to remodel the Grand at $15,000 likely with sound and opted, instead, to lease it in March of 1928 where it was converted to a ballroom ending its run. That reduced Sterling to the Illini and Lincoln. Both were equipped with sound.
Great States dropped the Lincoln closing for the summer in June of 1930. The five theater town was down to just one operating venue in the Depression. However, a new operator reopened after three closed summers on September 2, 1932. That was not a success.
But the Lincoln proved to be a survivor and reopened under new management on November 10, 1934 as the State Theatre with “King Priest.” That included a new exterior that had a streamline look. It converted to widescreen to present CinemaScope titles.
In 1978, it was refurbished one last time rebooting as the First Avenue Cinema. In 1979, it transitioned to the Teatro Cinema showing Spanish language films apparently on a sublease. In its final stretch as the Cinema Theater, Kerasotes ended things with a “Silver Bullet” on October 29, 1985.
Crauford Kent
Steward’s Grand Opera House was established in Plano in the late 19th Century. At some point, the original building was replaced with a new building and dropping Steward’s name. It shifted to movie in the 1910s and went by the Grand Theatre - dated to at least 1922 by the moniker. They installed a costly new pipe organ in July of 1925 to improve presentations.
The Grand was sold by Frank Boget and Ingersoll along with the Sandwich’s American Theatre on October 21, 1928 to R.A. Shobe. Shobe rewired both venues for sound to remain commercially viable. George Huth took it over in 1930.
In 1937, the venue got a streamline moderne makeover. In October of 1947, it was renamed the Plano Theater. But the theatre struggled to survive reducing showtimes to four days a week, showing more Spanish language films to cater to the Hispanic population, and changing operators at least three times. Joe M. Smith and Mrs. Steven Nadolny operated it for just a year in 1975 closing in 1976.
Final operator Michael Burdick took it on in June of 1976 giving it new projection equipment and reducing seat count from 410 to its final count of 305. The retrofit of $56,000 may have been a bit more than the venue made. It stopped advertising after the September 8, 1978 showings of “Grease.”
First advertised as the American Theatre in 1921 and operated by Ingersoll & Boget. It took the place of the Sandwich Opera House as the number one entertainment place in town. R.A. Shobe of Monticello, Illinois took on the venue to modernize it. On November 5, 1929, the theater had a new lobby and Phototone sound system becoming the Avalon Theatre. In December of 1933, under new owners, the venue became the State Theatre: “The Biggest Little Theatre in Northern Illinois.”
The State transitioned to widescreen projection. On August, 5, 1964, the State Theatre discontinued advertising with “How the West Was Won.” The entry should be the State Theatre formerly the American Theatre formerly the Avalon Theatre and purportedly the Chi Theatre. Operator Paul Sweeney noted that during his tenure as the State Theatre, the venue sold 1.2 million admissions - certainly enough to call this theatre the State.
The Harvard Opera House opened in the 1870s here - one of two opera houses in Harvard operating into the 20th Century. Then it was renamed as the Majestic Theatre on March 13, 1915 featuring Al Jennings in “Beating Back” supported with a new pipe organ. On March 3, 1928, the venue was renamed by new operator Nat Wayne as the Metro Theatre with “The 13th Hour” and Tuttle, The Great Magician on the stage.
On November 16, 1930, the venue was taken over by A.E. Pierce who renamed it as the Harvard Theatre with “The Untold Three” with Lon Chaney now with sound. It closed in 1934 and reopened with new operator Bill Johnson. He gave the Harvard a streamline look on August 2, 1936 likely ordering a sign that didn’t arrive saying, “Roxy.” The venue improved exhibition with RCA sound which began on December 24, 1936 under the venue’s new name as the Roxy Theatre.
Fore reasons unclear, Johnson renamed the venue as the Harvard Theatre - its second time around on that name - on January 12, 1950 with a refresh including new setting and a cycloramic film theater. The Harvard Theatre was closed on December 31, 1953 with “The Fuller Brush Man” and sold to non-theatrical interests. In the 1970s, the competing theater would also become the Harvard Theatre (“#2”).
The Walworth stopped advertising after the January 1, 1984 showing of “Easy Money.” My guess is that it wasn’t so easy.