Lyric Theatre

209 W. Main Street,
Monticello, IL 61856

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Kerasotes Theatres

Architects: William Phillip Doerr

Nearby Theaters

Lyric Theatre, 1979

The ‘new’ Lyric Theatre was opened September 5, 1937 with Milton Berle in “New Faces of 1937”. It was closed May 31, 1979 and was immediately demolished.

Contributed by Mark Specht

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

Chris1982
Chris1982 on June 3, 2014 at 2:04 am

The Lyric Theatre was located at 109 W. main St.

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on April 28, 2016 at 10:44 am

The address maps to a still-standing building housing Monticello Drugs. Maybe not demolished after all.

MovieMark
MovieMark on November 22, 2017 at 12:26 am

The new Lyric Theatre opened Sunday, September 5, 1937 for a 3:00 p.m. showing of “New Faces of 1937” by Leigh Jason. Its first paying customer was Keith Hutson.

The Lyric Theatre was located at 209 W. Main St. (See Piatt County Journal-Republican from May 17, 1979)

Chicago architect W. Philip Doerr designed the $40,000 Lyric Theatre. It used a Western Electric Mirrophonic Sound System.

J. P. Kratz was the original owner and and Miss Eleanor Gibson was the original manager.

The Kratz Family sold the Lyric in 1973 to First State Bank of Monticello, who leased it to Kerasotes. The Lyric closed May 31, 1979 after having shown “Grease.”

It now functions as a western half of First State Bank.

The Lyric’s phone number was 217-762-4336

MovieMark
MovieMark on November 27, 2017 at 11:33 pm

The new Lyric was not demolished, but converted into the western half of the First State Bank building.

SethG
SethG on April 13, 2018 at 11:14 am

Street view shows the wrong half of the bank. Looks like they tore the entire front off, and maybe kept three walls and the auditorium roof. Might as well be demolished. Looks nothing like a theater, and very little of the building remains, much less the interior.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on April 13, 2018 at 12:33 pm

SethG: Google Street View has been corrected.

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