Ross Theater
Building 110,
Great Lakes Naval Station,
Great Lakes,
IL
60088
Building 110,
Great Lakes Naval Station,
Great Lakes,
IL
60088
1 person
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Navy Motion Pictures (Official)
Additional Info
Operated by: Navy Motion Picture Service
Architects: Mason Gerardi Rapp
Firms: Rapp & Rapp
Functions: Movies (First Run)
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Ross Auditorium
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
847.688.6763
Nearby Theaters
On the giant Great Lakes Naval Station where every sailor starts their life in the Navy is a real movie theatre where thousands and thousands of sailors have gone to the movies. All the theatres built during world War II have now been torn down.
This nice looking large base theatre was known as the Ross Auditorium and was built in 1944. It was designed by Mason Rapp of the Chicago based architectural firm Rapp & Rapp. The Ross Theater reopened in January of 2004 after being remodeled. Fairly current movies are shown Friday and Saturday at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Each show is a different movie.
A sailor has a chance of seeing five different movies in three days! Movies are $2 ($1 children under age 12). The theatre is run by the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation). Which uses no Federal Funds. Profits from the Navy Exchanges (PX), etc. go into MWR.
Contributed by
AKC Bob Jensen
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The Ross Theatre seats over 1,300 and also hosts a number of live events.
Here is the Ross Theatre’s website, which includes three photos: View link
The Ross Auditorium was designed during World War II by Mason Rapp. Old Rapp & Rapp office records which were saved by Mason Rapp’s son confirm this.
It sits on the main quadrangle at Great Lakes, and seemed in good repair the last time I had any reason to be on the base. That was about ten years ago.
At some point in history I think it also served as a chapel.
Saw a lot of great movies here when I was at ET school in 1958. A nice comfortable theater. Many happy memories of the long walk down to this place from the Service School barracks with a stop at building 211 for a couple cheeseburgers. A real treat from the stress of Navy life when I was 18. Glad to see it still operates in the same fashion. There were movies at “Hospitalside” as well if you had seen the movie at “Ross Auditorium” as it was known in those days. There must be other sailors who have fond memories of it. Merrill Bancroft