Stark Theatre
110 E. Main Street,
Toulon,
IL
61483
110 E. Main Street,
Toulon,
IL
61483
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Bailey Enterprises
Functions: Housing
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: State Theatre
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This theatre opened as the State Theatre on February 18, 1937 seating 500. It was originally located at 109-111 E. Main Street, which has since been renumbered 110 E. Main. A single story building with a two story façade in white terra cotta, it had red lines running down the front façade and stopping at the marquee. The box office was in the center with doors to each side to enter. It was renamed the Stark by 1940.
It had a small lobby that was redone in the 1946 remodel in Art Moderne style. There were three aisles that led into the auditorium from the lobby. The seats were leather covered and padded until half way down and then both back and bottom were all wood. The Stark had a small stage and stage house.
The theatre closed December 18, 1954. In 1973, the facade and much of the auditorium was demolished. The unattractive remains appear to be used as housing.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Not sure where that address came from, but it’s ridiculously wrong. This is almost certainly the theater that appears on the Oct. 1939 Sanborn, at 109-111. At some later point, the addresses were changed, and the address is now 110. It has not been demolished, but has been butchered down to a dull flat-fronted box. It appears to be used as a residence.
Moline architect M.R. Beckstrom drew up the Stark Theatre plans in 1936. It opened as a streamline moderne movie theatre and seems to be largely unchanged to its closure. The Stark Theatre opened on February 18, 1937 for Princeton’s H.V. and John W. Bailey with “Polo Joe” with Joe E. Brown. Lyle Leek dropped the venue to weekend plus operation in its final year. He closed it permanently on December 18, 1954. With just over 1,100 people in town, television had pretty much ruined small town movie houses like the Stark.
The vacant Stark Theatre attracted a new audience with a colony of bees in its marquee in July of 1957. Local beekeeper Henry Robots corralled them and added them to his colony. The theatre was razed on September 10, 1973. It opened and closed as the Stark.
Listed as the State in the 1938 and 1939 Yearbooks. Was that just an error?
The facade as described is at odds with the photo, but Chuck is incredibly unreliable. The 1939 map does not show a second story. I wonder if the photo is not from after the 1946 remodel.