Ritz Theater

403 E. Main Street,
Belleville, IL 62220

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rivest266
rivest266 on October 27, 2021 at 10:12 pm

Opened (or placed its 1st ad) as Midway on November 23rd, 1929. ad posted.

rivest266
rivest266 on October 27, 2021 at 9:45 pm

This was the Midway theatre, which was renamed the Ritz theatre on December 19th, 1930. First ad posted.

rivest266
rivest266 on October 25, 2021 at 11:58 pm

Ritz 2 opened on April 21st, 1972. Grand opening ad posted.

ptouchette81
ptouchette81 on January 23, 2018 at 3:02 am

One of the earliest movies I saw here was “One Magic Christmas”…and other memorable movies included “The Little Mermaid,” “Prancer” and “Ghosts of Mississippi.”

I’ll never forget seeing “Ghostbusters II” in one of the upstairs screening rooms. In this particular room, the projector beamed onto a mirror (at the rear right corner of the room) that then beamed onto the screen. On this particular day, the projector malfunctioned and began to reverse the film at double speed. Momentarily, an usher came out to announce that the screening would be cancelled due to the malfunction and we were all issued rain checks. I didn’t see the movie in its entirety until it screened second-run at the Lincoln months later.

Darren_Snow
Darren_Snow on August 21, 2015 at 8:27 pm

When the church moved into the old theater, a bar owner purchased the huge cursive RITZ sign and intended to place it on the facade of his bar on Washington Avenue in nearby St. Louis. This never came to pass, and the Ritz bar went out of business. I wonder where that sign wound up!

bbrown1
bbrown1 on November 9, 2010 at 3:07 am

Below is a link to story about haunted history of the Ritz Theatre:

View link

adambrower
adambrower on April 13, 2010 at 11:44 pm

i work at the ritz too went it closed! julie was the manager. yeah people said it was haunted. very creepy during closing time

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm

There is a current photo on the church site. Go to www.faithbaptist-church.org and click “about”.

gripplinger
gripplinger on June 5, 2006 at 10:49 pm

Parking, or lack of it, was the downfall of the Ritz. The theatre is at the far east end of downtown Belleville and never had a real easy place for customers to park. It is a shame this beautiful theatre has gone dark – it was/is beautiful and my very first job at 16 y.o. Before long, I became the Asst. Manager/Projectionist and had some of the best years of my life there! After cutting the balcony into two seperate but small theatres, the seating capasity for the main auditorium was about 375. The two screens “upstairs” sat 175 and 80 respectively. I certainly can remember when the Ritz could sell-out all three screens! Although it was said the theatre was haunted, I have to say I never saw any such activity – all I saw and remember are the best times of my life! At least the Ritz hasn’t been torn down and lives now as a church!

JAlex
JAlex on March 13, 2005 at 1:57 am

Original name was the MIDLAND.

wayne2565
wayne2565 on October 18, 2004 at 6:20 am

My husband and I are looking for old theater seats to purchase for our home theater please contact us at We live here in belleville on olive street.