Actually, it appears to face Mt. Clare, and the border runs down the middle of Hardroad, which is behind the theater, although the address is on Hardroad. For some reason, the church, and all the businesses on 138/4, even further into Mt. Clare, have Benld mailing addresses, while the main section of Mt. Clare has Gillespie addresses. Google also thinks the street behind the church, and IL 138/4 are both called Hardroad, although if you drop a marker on the larger road, it calls it Staunton Rd. The street behind the church is definitely hardroad, since you can see some street signs in streetview. We may be able to change this to Mt. Clare and still have the map work. On Google at least, searching for 305 finds the same place, no matter what town you select.
I think I see the problem. Mt. Clare Dr runs to the north of the parking lot, and is actually a much better way to enter than coming up Hardroad from the back. Must have gotten garbled in the listing.
There’s a lot of confusing/conflicting information here. There is a church in a cheap metal shed at 305 N Hardroad in Benld, and it does look a bit like a barn. Maybe it was a theater? Could have been a small chain.
Address is wrong, and this never served as the civic center. It was at 309 E Central, and was demolished many years ago. Would have been roughly across from the present library. If you go to: http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis/ and search for ‘Benld’, you can see a picture of it rotting away in the ‘70s.
The opera house is already shown with film equipment on the 1917 Sanborn. The projection was from an iron-clad wooden box at the rear of the second floor building, with stage and scenery on the front (Sturgeon St) side. Ground floor occupants were a hardware store on the north side, and the post office on the south. The lot is empty on the 1909 map, and current usage is a Masonic Lodge and a laundromat.
I think Chuck probably had the street wrong. The picture, which should be thrown away, is a screencap of a church from the low-quality 2008 streetview. The other corner is a gravel lot (and was in the 2008 streetview). On the W 3rd side of the intersection there’s a cheap modern building that looks like a little barn, and an old 2-story commercial building that doesn’t look like it was ever a theater. Since he didn’t bother to give any history or a description, it’s hard to know which building he meant. Nothing in the immediate area looks anything like a theater, so this should probably be listed as demolished and the address removed.
If we’re going to say this was the Rex, since we’ve added two photos poached from the web, we need to change the listing. This was absolutely NOT built anywhere near 1911.
This building is specifically labeled as the ‘Pastime’ on the Sanborn, and it is the building that replaced the old Baird Opera House and which the ‘New Pastime’ moved into when it was constructed. That is where it has to start. How the Rivoli and Rex come in is a bit fuzzy.
How can we square that with the earlier information you found? I’m so confused. At any rate, if the address is right, this HAS to have been the Pastime. Maybe it never was the Rivoli?
Not sure why this is listed as showing movies. The theater appears to feature everything but movies.
The NRHP listing for the Park Square Historic District (boundary increase) has a 1990 picture of the theater before the removal of the addition to the front, which I guess dates from sometime between 1930 and 1940.
The October 1916 Sanborn only shows the Grand and Pastime. I went carefully through all 7 pages to make sure. Of course, they might have come and gone by then.
If we end up keeping the listing, I will add a photo. The building was abandoned in 2001 after the death of the owner of Kline’s Amusement, which had been there since the ‘70s. It was demolished sometime after June 2013. It looks like the foundation is being used as a parking lot.
To add to the confusion, a newspaper article about the need to demolish the property refers to the building as the old Rex theater. I can’t link to the article, because of the idiotic spam filter.
The only possibility for this to really be the Rex is that shortly after 1916, yet ANOTHER Pastime was constructed on Gillespie, then closed for a while, then reopened under a new name in 1931.
Based on my research this listing should be combined with the Rex. It was renamed Rex in 1931, according to Joe’s comment on that listing. Possibly later renamed the Rivoli? Listing should be rewritten.
Something is wrong here. The 1911 and 1916 Sanborns show only a small wooden house on the supposed site of the Rex. The Pastime was on Main in 1916. There was a wooden theater building on the site that later became the Pastime on the 1911 map. I don’t think the building on Gillespie was ever the Pastime, and was therefore likely not the Rex.
I think this listing should be deleted. The building on Gillespie did vaguely resemble a theater, but had a large old garage door in the center, with entries on either side. It was probably built around 1920 as a dealership or garage.
If the Rivoli was at 731 Main, it was originally the Pastime. The listing for the Rex needs to be corrected. The 1916 Sanborn shows the Pastime as a large building of mixed construction. The front section was wooden, 1 ½ stories tall, containing a barber shop in a small storefront on the north side. The auditorium was brick. Both the stage and balcony appear flat and shallow on the map. The location is now a parking lot and part of a boxy ‘modern’ fire station.
I’m not sure if the church is still going. Building was for sale and locked up, but it was a Saturday while we were there, so they may continue as a tenant.
In the 2009 streetview, it looks like this is being used as a bowling alley, which is still listed as open. Sadly, the marquee is gone and the corner entry is boarded over.
Address is 728 Main St (which was called 12th long ago). The ornamentation and top of the roofline have been crudely hacked off, along with the balcony. A blah plywood storefront fills the entrance, and the building is now a bar.
As must be obvious from the pictures, the building is yellow brick (with limestone sills/accents), and the marquee is one story tall. The sides are cheaper rough red brick. The original windows have now been replaced by unsympathetic modern ones. Was not running a movie last weekend, but promised Toy Story 4 the next two weekends. Seems to also be used as a community arts theater, according to their FB page.
I added a picture from 2012. You can see that Joe is correct. The entire back half and front façade are new, but the front half of the side wall contains numerous older style arched windows, which have been filled in. The vitrolite front is still in great shape, and it seems likely that the marquee is still there, under some cheap vinyl siding.
I decided not to take a picture of this before I realized it had been a theater. Hope to be back through town soon.
Actually, it appears to face Mt. Clare, and the border runs down the middle of Hardroad, which is behind the theater, although the address is on Hardroad. For some reason, the church, and all the businesses on 138/4, even further into Mt. Clare, have Benld mailing addresses, while the main section of Mt. Clare has Gillespie addresses. Google also thinks the street behind the church, and IL 138/4 are both called Hardroad, although if you drop a marker on the larger road, it calls it Staunton Rd. The street behind the church is definitely hardroad, since you can see some street signs in streetview. We may be able to change this to Mt. Clare and still have the map work. On Google at least, searching for 305 finds the same place, no matter what town you select.
I think I see the problem. Mt. Clare Dr runs to the north of the parking lot, and is actually a much better way to enter than coming up Hardroad from the back. Must have gotten garbled in the listing.
There’s a lot of confusing/conflicting information here. There is a church in a cheap metal shed at 305 N Hardroad in Benld, and it does look a bit like a barn. Maybe it was a theater? Could have been a small chain.
Address is wrong, and this never served as the civic center. It was at 309 E Central, and was demolished many years ago. Would have been roughly across from the present library. If you go to: http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis/ and search for ‘Benld’, you can see a picture of it rotting away in the ‘70s.
The address is wrong. Should be 200-202. 209 is a narrow one-story building, which was used as stores, and is now a restaurant.
The opera house is already shown with film equipment on the 1917 Sanborn. The projection was from an iron-clad wooden box at the rear of the second floor building, with stage and scenery on the front (Sturgeon St) side. Ground floor occupants were a hardware store on the north side, and the post office on the south. The lot is empty on the 1909 map, and current usage is a Masonic Lodge and a laundromat.
I think Chuck probably had the street wrong. The picture, which should be thrown away, is a screencap of a church from the low-quality 2008 streetview. The other corner is a gravel lot (and was in the 2008 streetview). On the W 3rd side of the intersection there’s a cheap modern building that looks like a little barn, and an old 2-story commercial building that doesn’t look like it was ever a theater. Since he didn’t bother to give any history or a description, it’s hard to know which building he meant. Nothing in the immediate area looks anything like a theater, so this should probably be listed as demolished and the address removed.
If we’re going to say this was the Rex, since we’ve added two photos poached from the web, we need to change the listing. This was absolutely NOT built anywhere near 1911.
That at least makes sense. Now we have to find out if it’s right.
This building is specifically labeled as the ‘Pastime’ on the Sanborn, and it is the building that replaced the old Baird Opera House and which the ‘New Pastime’ moved into when it was constructed. That is where it has to start. How the Rivoli and Rex come in is a bit fuzzy.
How can we square that with the earlier information you found? I’m so confused. At any rate, if the address is right, this HAS to have been the Pastime. Maybe it never was the Rivoli?
Not sure why this is listed as showing movies. The theater appears to feature everything but movies.
The NRHP listing for the Park Square Historic District (boundary increase) has a 1990 picture of the theater before the removal of the addition to the front, which I guess dates from sometime between 1930 and 1940.
The October 1916 Sanborn only shows the Grand and Pastime. I went carefully through all 7 pages to make sure. Of course, they might have come and gone by then.
I already posted the Grand, which was at 6-something Main.
If we end up keeping the listing, I will add a photo. The building was abandoned in 2001 after the death of the owner of Kline’s Amusement, which had been there since the ‘70s. It was demolished sometime after June 2013. It looks like the foundation is being used as a parking lot.
To add to the confusion, a newspaper article about the need to demolish the property refers to the building as the old Rex theater. I can’t link to the article, because of the idiotic spam filter.
The only possibility for this to really be the Rex is that shortly after 1916, yet ANOTHER Pastime was constructed on Gillespie, then closed for a while, then reopened under a new name in 1931.
Based on my research this listing should be combined with the Rex. It was renamed Rex in 1931, according to Joe’s comment on that listing. Possibly later renamed the Rivoli? Listing should be rewritten.
Something is wrong here. The 1911 and 1916 Sanborns show only a small wooden house on the supposed site of the Rex. The Pastime was on Main in 1916. There was a wooden theater building on the site that later became the Pastime on the 1911 map. I don’t think the building on Gillespie was ever the Pastime, and was therefore likely not the Rex.
I think this listing should be deleted. The building on Gillespie did vaguely resemble a theater, but had a large old garage door in the center, with entries on either side. It was probably built around 1920 as a dealership or garage.
If the Rivoli was at 731 Main, it was originally the Pastime. The listing for the Rex needs to be corrected. The 1916 Sanborn shows the Pastime as a large building of mixed construction. The front section was wooden, 1 ½ stories tall, containing a barber shop in a small storefront on the north side. The auditorium was brick. Both the stage and balcony appear flat and shallow on the map. The location is now a parking lot and part of a boxy ‘modern’ fire station.
I’m not sure if the church is still going. Building was for sale and locked up, but it was a Saturday while we were there, so they may continue as a tenant.
In the 2009 streetview, it looks like this is being used as a bowling alley, which is still listed as open. Sadly, the marquee is gone and the corner entry is boarded over.
Address is 728 Main St (which was called 12th long ago). The ornamentation and top of the roofline have been crudely hacked off, along with the balcony. A blah plywood storefront fills the entrance, and the building is now a bar.
As must be obvious from the pictures, the building is yellow brick (with limestone sills/accents), and the marquee is one story tall. The sides are cheaper rough red brick. The original windows have now been replaced by unsympathetic modern ones. Was not running a movie last weekend, but promised Toy Story 4 the next two weekends. Seems to also be used as a community arts theater, according to their FB page.
I added a picture from 2012. You can see that Joe is correct. The entire back half and front façade are new, but the front half of the side wall contains numerous older style arched windows, which have been filled in. The vitrolite front is still in great shape, and it seems likely that the marquee is still there, under some cheap vinyl siding.