Henry Theater

The Henry Opera House was built in 1913 opening on September 15, 1913 with the play, “The Rosary” with movies on Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. J.K. O'Neil and Harry M. Forber of Peoria bought the Henry Opera House relaunching it August 1, 1925 as the Henry Theatre with the Paramount Films Studio contract with “The Air Mail.”

In June of 1929, a new operator added Vitaphone for sound on disc presentations to remain commercially viable and to compete aginst the Granville Paramount Theatre which already had Vitaphone. In November of 1937, the theatre was closed briefly for a major streamline moderne by specialist H.W. Rucker Decorating Company which performed numerous similar transitions throughout Illinois.

Its continuous movie service ended on May 24, 1958 with “Tip on a Dead Jockey” with promises of a dozen great titles. But those films weren’t shown and the venue tried live events - dancing and music in 1958 by sublessees, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Frye - and some special trade screenings staying operational into 1960. In December of 1964, the theatre was auctioned off and was purchased at that auction for $600. By 1970, nothing had been done with the property which was deteriorating. That forced the City of Henry to demand demolition and, later, brought suit against the owner that same year.

In July, the former Henry Opera House turned Theatre, itself, got the message collapsing from its middle trying to self-raze. It wasn’t totally successful and in October youths set fire to the building but it wouldn’t completely go away. So the City of Henry finished the job late in the year.