Plano Theatre
16 N. Center Street,
Plano,
IL
60545
16 N. Center Street,
Plano,
IL
60545
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Lucas Theater Circuit
Previous Names: Steward's Grand Opera House, Grand Theatre
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Built in 1912 as Steward’s Grand Opera House and converted into a movie theatre in 1927 when it was renamed Grand Theatre. It was part of the Lucas Theaters circuit. In 1949 it was renamed Plano Theatre. It had a balcony and pressed tin ceiling in the auditorium. It also had a full back stage area with back drop loft.
The Plano Theatre closed in the late-1970’s and has since been torn down and replaced with a convenience store and gas station.
Contributed by
Joe M. Smith
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
This was where I learned to be a projectionist. Operating Brenkert carbon arcs, Simplex Standards and RCA 9030’s. Manual changerovers running 2000 foot reels. This was back in the day when being a projectionist was a profession. I have always had a special place in my heart for this great old theatre. Started out at $1.50 an hour in 1973. One Sunday afternoon my little brother, Jeff at 9 years old came to the Matinee. I took him up to the booth to see how the projectors operated. You should have seen his wide eyes. He watched part of the movie form the booth. I had to run all day and later that eveing I heard the fire sirens go off. The theatre being only about 150 feet from the fire station made the siren sound come right down the exhaust for the lamps. When I got home that night I walked into the house to find my mother crying. My little brother was hit by a freight train and killed. So the last place I saw my brother was at the Plano. A couple years later my wife who was the manager,and myself purchased the theatre. I was so proud to annouce the birth of our first child on that great old Marquee. “IT’S A GIRL 7LB 9 OUNCES” on the bottom line right above the chasing lights.
The Plano is gone now and I cannot as of this day drive down 16 North Center Street in Plano without getting very emotional. I just hope that all theatre people out there can love their theatre as I have loved the Plano.
Steward’s Grand Opera House was established in Plano in the late 19th Century. At some point, the original building was replaced with a new building and dropping Steward’s name. It shifted to movie in the 1910s and went by the Grand Theatre - dated to at least 1922 by the moniker. They installed a costly new pipe organ in July of 1925 to improve presentations.
The Grand was sold by Frank Boget and Ingersoll along with the Sandwich’s American Theatre on October 21, 1928 to R.A. Shobe. Shobe rewired both venues for sound to remain commercially viable. George Huth took it over in 1930.
In 1937, the venue got a streamline moderne makeover. In October of 1947, it was renamed the Plano Theater. But the theatre struggled to survive reducing showtimes to four days a week, showing more Spanish language films to cater to the Hispanic population, and changing operators at least three times. Joe M. Smith and Mrs. Steven Nadolny operated it for just a year in 1975 closing in 1976.
Final operator Michael Burdick took it on in June of 1976 giving it new projection equipment and reducing seat count from 410 to its final count of 305. The retrofit of $56,000 may have been a bit more than the venue made. It stopped advertising after the September 8, 1978 showings of “Grease.”