Boarman's Roxy Theatre
149 E. Main Street,
Shelbyville,
IL
62565
149 E. Main Street,
Shelbyville,
IL
62565
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Related Websites
Boarmans Roxy Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Frisina Amusement Company
Functions: Movies (Second Run)
Previous Names: Playhouse, New Roxy Theatre, Roxy Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
217.774.7699
Nearby Theaters
Boarman’s Roxy Theatre was reopened in downtown Shelbyville on November 5, 2003. Barely ready for its grand re-opening, after a team of volunteers made a bet the theatre would open on the date of its closing 37 years prior, the Roxy Theatre premiered with a free screening of “Mary Poppins” to a standing room only crowd. A row of the late Bob Boarman’s pink and mint green classic cars parked outside the premiere as the brand new marquee lit up the streets.
Having gone decades without a movie theatre in a twenty mile radius, Shelbyville decided to re-open its defunct theatre in the dying downtown.
Opened by 1922 as the Playhouse, it was leased in November 1936 to the Frisina Amusement Company. In August 1939, the theatre was remodeled with air conditioning and other modern conveniences and renamed the New Roxy Theatre with 424 seats. The Roxy Theatre ran movies until November 6, 1966, when its final curtain fell on “Mary Poppins”. The theatre was stripped of its marquee soon after and hosted a myriad of specialty stores until the movie house became unrecognizable in its history of many faces.
Today, Boarman’s Roxy Theatre hosts new and second-run movies, focusing on family entertainment. Shows are $3.
Contributed by
Jamie Newell
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The Film Daily Yearbook;1950 edition gives a seating capacity of 496 for the Roxy Theatre.
When the theater was restored, brand-new seats were added to the small theater and the rows were spaced apart a little wider to give patrons more leg room. My cousin was a volunteer who screwed in the seats.
The price has gone up to $4.00 but it is still well worth it. You can’t beat the concession prices! It’s fun to go to a theater that my Mom and Dad went to when they were kids.
May 4th 1963 photo here. Copy & paste to view.
http://alplm-cdi.com/chroniclingillinois/items/show/26130
1950 photo added courtesy Perk Wilson.
Some of this history is inaccurate. The building was not built in the 1880s, it was constructed sometime between 1911 and 1922. The 1911 map shows the building that preceded the theater was only one story tall. Even that did not date from the 1880s, being constructed sometime between 1896 and 1906 to replace an earlier wooden building.
By 1922, everything from the theater down to the corner was a replacement. Perhaps there was a fire? The opening date is clearly also wrong, as the theater appears on the 1922 and 1933 maps.