Princess Theatre
200 Market Street,
Colchester,
IL
62326
200 Market Street,
Colchester,
IL
62326
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This was the second Princess Theatre at this address (the earlier one at a different address was a 250-seat theatre, and had been destroyed by fire), The 500-seat Princess Theatre was opened on April 22, 1926 with Ramon Navarro in “The Midshipman”. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. The Princess Theatre was closed in 1952 and demolished in 2002.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Opened in the 1920’s it closed in 1952 and was demolished in 2002.
Here are some 1983 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/c9sov3
http://tinyurl.com/c8sun6
Princess Theatre #2 in downtown Colchester opened where the original had burned down. The 500-seat theater was a marked upgrade from its 250-seat predecessor and was a theatre that would have been befitting of a town four times larger than Colchester. Launching in April of 1926 with a Wurlitzer pipe organ, the Princess operated seven days a week and thrived until the TV era.
The Princess hung on just long enough to celebrate its 25th anniversary closing in the TV era. Used unceremoniously as storage for decades with its attraction sign used to advertise Shelor Mobile Homes, the long dormant theater would finally be demolished.
Correct address would be 200 Market St. The Veterans Memorial is located there now. You can tell by the location of the water tower in the old photo that is still there today.
Colchester’s original Princess Theatre was in operation by 1921, as the November 12 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year published a letter from the manager, T. H. Smith. Colchester had not been listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
An article about the Princess in the spring, 1998 issue of the Colchester Area Historical Society Newsletter reveals that the first Princess was at a different location than its 1926 replacement. The new theater’s site had been occupied by a building that burned, but it had housed a retail store. Thomas Smith moved his Princess Theater into its new building on April 22, 1926. The opening program included an organ concert, an International News Reel, an “Our Gang” comedy, and the MGM feature “The Midshipman” starring Ramon Navarro.
The new theater had been designed by Peoria architect Hamilton Bogart Dox.