Capitol Theatre
1001 Public Square,
Benton,
IL
62812
1001 Public Square,
Benton,
IL
62812
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 7 comments
Showmen’s Trade Review, Jan. 10, 1953: “Fox Mid-West opened the 1,100-seat Capitol at Benton, Ill., following technical and structural changes and remodelling. Theatre now has a cry room, air conditioning, special speakers”
The address on the 1925 map is 1003, and this was not off Main St, it was on a corner off the square. Benton has one of those weird town squares where the blocks on all 4 corners are just visible from the square. This block was originally rectangular, but between 1900 and 1910, W.W. McCreery replaced his lumberyard with a large three story brick hotel building, which sat on an angled cutout of the corner, and thus faced the square.
I assume there was a fire, because the 1915 map shows one story brick buildings matching the footprint of the hotel. The theater now appears, tucked south of two stores running E-W, and east of two running N-S. The facade of the theater is a tiny diagonal section in the corner.
By 1925, the whole setup has been drastically remodeled or perhaps replaced. The theater has been greatly expanded, taking over the eastern N-S storefront, and the remaining structure is now 3 stories tall. The auditorium has also been expanded much further east, and is now taller, and has a fly tower and balcony. The diagonal section has been eliminated, and there is a large rectangular wooden marquee on the north wall of the exposed section of the theater. This is what we see in the picture.
It was one of the first theaters in the area to show “Cinemascope” movies. “The Robe” was the first shown there. We thought the screen was “huge.” It was a great place to see movies.
The Google Maps pin icon is near the southwest corner of the square, but the article Ken linked to on August 23, 2008, says that the Capitol Theatre was at the southeast corner of the square. The band shell the article mentions has now been built on part of the theater’s site, and can be seen in Google Street View.
The February 2, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine reported that the Capitol Theatre in Benton had suffered heavy smoke and water damage during a conflagration which destroyed an adjacent four story building which contained, among other things, the theater manager’s office. The Capitol’s electric sign (whether this was a vertical sign or the name sign on the marquee is not specified) was also destroyed. Flames were prevented from entering the auditorium by what the article calls “a stout firewall.”
I am the director/founder of the Pyramid Players Theatre Troup that did indeed perform in the Historic Capitol Theatre during the summer of 1978. It was a church before we gained access to it. I attended movies there as a child (Disney classics, etc.) It was truly a gem of a theatre and I miss her everytime I go up to the public square. The Capitol Park (a small park with a Pavilion Stage) now stands where the Capitol stood. Benton, IL is also the home to actor John Malkovich (his family still runs the local newspaper.) Also, home to Louise Harrison, sister of Beatle George Harrison. He came here the summer BEFORE they played the Sullivan Show and became famous. The first Beatle recording ever played in the U.S. was broadcast on radio station WFRX in West Frankfort, IL (7 miles to the south of Benton.)
The Pyramid Players are still performing annual summer seasons at the Rend Lake College Theatre in Ina, IL.
Come visit us sometime…quite an historic little town.
B Summers
This 11/30/05 article discusses the purchase of the Capitol’s former location by the city:
http://tinyurl.com/3up6c2