Round Up Theater
2858-60 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60618
2858-60 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60618
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Balaban, H & E
Architects: Ralph C. Harris
Previous Names: Rose Theater, New Dale Theater, Dale Theater
Nearby Theaters
The Rose Theatre was one of several theaters in the Logan Square neighborhood, such as the Congress Theatre, the Logan Square Theatre and the Paramount Theatre (still operating today as the Logan Theatre). Most of the theaters, like the Rose Theatre, were located on N. Milwaukee Avenue.
The Rose Theatre opened in 1914 and could seat over 700. It appears to have closed and reopened more than once during the 1930’s. On November 20, 1936 it reopened as the New Dale Theatre. In 1949, as the Round Up Theatre, its operators, the H & E Balaban chain, adopted a Western’s policy. It closed sometime during the 1950’s, and by the late-1950’s, housed a furniture store.
In 2001, a restaurant operated out of the former lobby space, while the auditorium was used for storage. It was demolished in June 2009.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
In 1950 when I went to the Roundup as a kid we would go there in cowboy attire and check our capguns at the desk where they would all be hung on a pegboard with a claim check. Then we could see the movies but not be able to shoot our guns during them. Very cute. Everything else was cowboy also. A veritable boy’s fantasyland. Addio, Colonello and Addio, Roundup.
Does anyone know where I can find the original photo posted here for this theatre? I’d like to get a higher-resolution scan for a neighborhood history book I’m co-authoring.
Theatre Historical Society in Elmhurst, if anywhere
Thanks for the tip, Broan! So far, I found this 1936 photo of the New Dale on the Theatre Historical Society’s site: http://historictheatres.pastperfect-online.com/34792cgi/mweb.exe?request=image&hex=S%209868.JPG
The Chicago History Museum also has a 1917 photo of the Rose.
Unfortunately, due to restrictions on photo permissions, these photos can’t all live in the same place!
You could see if Abt has a better copy.
Abt was super helpful, but interestingly the photo they had was a heavily photoshopped variant of the one above, covering up both Round-Up signs. Must’ve been used as part of a promotional piece… If only I could track down Kenny1950, he must know.
great, we have here photos of all three named theatre incarnations—ROSE, then DALE, then ROUND-UP. The last seemed to give up and close about the same time as its very nearby milwaukee ave neighbor theatre the NITA. The early 50’s consumed a lot and 1953 seems to me to be the statistical closure peak year. Television was officially taking over and there was no longer a commercial need for so much movie screen city address saturation
The records of the American Terra Cotta Company contain a number of projects combining theaters and stores and designed for a partnership called Kusel & Harris. So far all of them I’ve come across list the architect of the projects only as Harris.
I don’t know if it was the same Harris who was having the projects built or not (quite a few architects did go into the theater development business), but the architect in question was most likely Ralph C Harris, who is known to have designed a number of Chicago theaters in the 1910s.
One of the projects was for a store at Milwaukee Avenue and Wolfram Street, which was the location of the Round Up. This theater was thus probably of Ralph C. Harris’s design.
This reopened as the Dale theatre on November 20th, 1936. Grand opening ad posted.
I added the June 18, 1917 photo credit Charles E. Barker, Chicago History Museum; ICHi-068002 to the gallery. The CHM link read “No Known Copyright”.
https://images.chicagohistory.org/search/?searchQuery=Rose+Theater&assetType=default