Theatre
205 N. Chestnut Street,
Kewanee,
IL
61443
205 N. Chestnut Street,
Kewanee,
IL
61443
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This theatre appears on the 1918 Sanborn with a note: ‘Not in Operation’. The building, a 2-story brick commercial structure, was built sometime between 1899 and 1905. The 1910 map shows the ground floor was vacant, although the second story was used by a hotel.
No later maps are available, and it’s unknown whether this ever returned to operation. Nearly the entire block has been demolished, and yet another parking lot, in a small town overburdened with them, is all that remains.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music between in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon. It was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
While that likely jibes with the vacancy shown on the 1910 map, it doesn’t make sense that the 1918 map should show it as a theater, if it had closed 8 years prior, and been converted back to retail.
Ah… indeed. Sorry. It returned to cinematic operation:
Over at Chestnut and Second, the space served as a long running silent movie house. The Nickelodeon opened as a store-show era silent one reel movie house with live music in February of 1907. It was joined by four other nickelodeons chasing the coin in the Princess, Dreamland, Bijou, and Atheneum. In 1908, the bubble burst leaving just two venues - one of which was the Nickelodeon.
The Nickelodeon was operated by local theater magnate Chris Taylor of the Dreamland among others as he - followed by Willard J. West - became the dominant early movie pioneers in Kewanee. Taylor was a 19th Century vaudeville and live showman who transitioned to early cinema. Kewanee doled out short-term, one year licenses to operators in the early days; so that encouraged a lot of moving about and name changing. That’s exactly what transpired at 205 North Chestnut was one such location.
The Nickelodeon closed on February 9, 1910. Taylor appeared before the City Council to explain that he would neither extend the license which was expiring in May of 1910 nor reopen the theatre in the interim. Purdy Brothers took on the location as a retail operation.
The next operator was Basil Argeropolis. Argeropolis ran the Olympia Theatre doors away and the Olympia Candy Kitchen. Argeropolis took on the location in October of 1912 returning it to cinematic capacity as the American Theater opening on October 5, 1912. (The newspaper account even cites the building’s absence and return as a cinema.) Argerpolis operated both theaters for a short period of time. He transferred the operations to C.M. Merritt at his retirement in late October of 1914.
Merritt appears to have reduced to one venue with the Olympia roosting here and open from 1914 to 1919. The Olympia changed from films in 1919 to live vaudeville in a last ditch effort to stay commercially viable. That didn’t work out with the Olympia ending its run with a vaudeville show on November 6, 1919 featuring Nichols & Taylor in “The Royal African Prince.” Later that month, the space was remodeled into the Exide Battery and Auto Service Station that opened in early 1920. This ended the location’s 12-year cinematic journey as better movie houses were built in Kewanee.
This entry should be the Olympia Theatre formerly the Nickelodeon Theater and American Theatre.