Boston Theatre

The Boston Theatre probably opened in early 1908. An article about four theaters then operating on this block of Chicago’s Madison Street, appearing in the August 20, 1910, issue of The Film Index said: “The Boston Theatre was built two and a half years ago by the Boston Theatre Co., at an outlay of $17,000.”

Moir named this theatre “Boston” because he owned the adjacent “Boston Oyster House” restaurant in the Morrison Hotel. The Boston Oyster House was a landmark restaurant at Clark and Madison from the time of the Civil War until it was demolished with the Morrison in 1964-65. The restaurant’s cuisine was upscale seafood patterned after New England seafood restaurants. Naming the theatre after the restaurant amplified advertising for both. In the 1920s, Moir sacrificed the theatre — which was in a small building constructed right after the Great Chicago Fire, for the new 45-story tower wing of the hotel. Moir was ruined in the Depression, having overleveraged to expand the hotel to the world’s largest. He lost the hotel in the early 1930s. The First National Bank of Chicago acquired the property and demolished it about three decades later.

I would guess that the theatre was trying to profit from association with the department store, as the Boston, Rose, and Alcazar were kitty-corner from the Boston Store. Also, Jazz Age Chicago shows an address of 79 W Madison for this theatre.