Online since 1997
Home » Leisure Venues » Theaters » Citywide Theater Index
Citywide Theater Index
Index sections: Early Nickelodeons | A-B | C-D | E-G | H-J | K-L | M-N | O-Q | R-S | T-Z | Suburban
             
Theater Location Built Opened Seats Present Condition Notes
Rainbow 645 W 120th 1916 - 764 Demolished a,b,c,p
Ramova 3518 S Halsted 1928-29 8/21/29 1160 Disused p
Randolph 14 W Randolph 1918 12/23/18 845 Demolished a,b,c
Ravoli 4380 N Elston 1922-23 - - Community center b,p
Red Star 5610 S Wentworth - - - - j(1913)
Regal 4719 South Parkway 1927 2/4/28 3000 Demolished b,c
Regent 6746 N Sheridan - - 732 Movie theater b,c
Republlic 3918 N Lincoln - - - - j(1914)
Revelry 342 E 47th - - - Closed 3/31/24; remodeled into retail store a
Rex 2340 W Madison - - 687 - a
Rex 6848 S Racine - - 604 - a,b,c
Rhodes E 79th at Rhodes 1937 - - - -
Rialto 386 S State - 1/22/17 1548 Demolished b,c
Riviera 4746 N Racine 1917 10/2/18 1945 Concert hall a,b,c
Rivoli 4380 N Elston 1922 - 1400 Community Center c
Robey 2007 W 22nd - - 300 - a
Robey Madison and Robey - - - - j(1913)
Rockne 5821 W Division 1925 - 1500 Church -
Rogers 2516 W Fullerton - - 487 Demolished a,b,c
Romano 7339 S Halsted - - - - j(1913)
Roosevelt 110 N State 1921 4/23/21 1591 Demolished a,b,c
Roscoe 3354 N Southport - - - - j(1913)
Rose 63 W Madison - - 299 - a,b,c
Rose 2858 N Milwaukee 1914 - 707 Restaurant a,b,c
Roseland State 11020 S Michigan - - - - a
Roseland 11331 S Michigan - - 966 - b,c
Rosette 2150 W 22nd - - 299 - a,b
Rosewood 1823 W Montrose 1916 - 999 Retail b,c
Royal 749 N Clark - - - - j(1913)
Royal 1369 N Milwaukee - - 297 - j(1914),s
Savoy 4346 W Madison 1912-13 - 486 Church a,b,c,d
Schell 5516 S Ashland - - - - j
Schindler's 1005 W Huron - - 1053 - a,b,c
Seeley 2042 W Roscoe - - 300 - b,c
Senate 3128 W Madison 1920-21 2/12/21 3127 Demolished a,b,c
Shakespeare 942 E 43rd 1914 - 988 - a,b,c
Sheerin's 663 N Clark - - - - a
Sheridan 4040 N Sheridan 1927 2/12/27 2640 Demolished b,c
Sherman 1145 W Garfield - - - - j(1913)
Sherrin 663 N Clark - - 299 - c
Shore
2507 E 75th - 12/29/27 1500 Demolished b,c
Shubert 74 W Randolph - - - - b
Sittner's Sedgwick and Division - - - - j(1911-24)
Sonotone 66 E Van Buren - - - Demolished -
Southport 3709 N Southport - - 300 Demolished a,s
Southtown 610 W 63rd 1931 12/25/31 3200 Demolished -
Springfield 3857 W Roosevelt - - 290 - a,b,c
Stadium 1803 S Blue Island - - 277 - a,b,c
Standard 750 N Clark - - 397 - a,b,c
Stanley 3010 E 79th - - 297 Restaurant a,b,c
Star 68 W Madison 1914 7/25/14 1500 - a
Star 1455 N Milwaukee - - 1485 - a,b,c
Star 1415 W Fullerton - - 298 - c
Star and Garter 815 W Madison 1907 1/19/08 1900 Demolished a,b,c
State 5814 W Madison 1925 - 1900 Demolished a,b
State-Lake 190 N State 1917-19 3/17/19 3000 Television studio a,b,c
States 3507 S State 1913 - 708 Demolished b,c
Stevens 3952 N Broadway - - - - j(1913-15)
Strand (New Strand) 2111 W Division 1915 - 733 Demolished a,c
Strand 3031 N Lincoln 1914 - 599 - a,b,c
Stratford 715 W 63rd 1919 9/4/20 2500 Demolished a,b,c
Swanson 1516 W 14th - - - - j(1913)
Swanson 3861 S Cottage Grove 1908 11/18/08 600 Demolished -
Symphony 4937 W Chicago 1927-28 - - Demolished p
Notes:
(a) Listed as "motion picture theater" in the 1923 edition of Polk's City Directory; (b) listed as "motion picture theater" in the 1928-29 edition of Polk's City Directory; (c) listed in The Film Daily 1929 Year Book; (d) data from Chicago Defender; (e) built/opened dates based on Billboard coverage of the event; (f) location based on Motion Picture News articles from the period; (g) opening date based on Motion Picture News coverage of the event; (h) seating capacity based on Motion Picture News articles from the period; (j) name and location based on Chicago Tribune theater listings; (p) construction dates based on city of Chicago building permit ledgers; (q) demolition date based on city of Chicago building permit ledgers; (r) date built from Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps; (s) capacity from Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps; (t) date built derived from Cook County Assessor's Office records.

Other Considerations:
1. Locations, years built and razed, and opening dates have been compiled from a variety of sources, including theater advertisements, city directories, and fire insurance maps.
2. Seating capacities have been compiled primarily from those listed in fire insurance maps.
3. The present condition of the theater is indicated only if known and independently verified.
4. This database is under constant revision; new or more accurate information is added as additional research is completed.

Alternative Street Names:
12th=Roosevelt, 22nd=Cermak, Armitage=Center, Crawford=Pulaski, Evanston=Broadway, Grand Blvd=South Parkway=Martin Luther King Drive, Robey=Damen.

Last updated: 31 July 2005





Suggested Reading
· George D. Bushnell, "Chicago's Magnificent Movie Palaces," Chicago History 6 (Summer 1977), 99-106.
· Ben Hall, Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (DaCapo Press, 1988).
· Lary May, Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture Industry (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1983).
· Michael Putnam, Silent Screens: The Decline and Transformation of the American Movie Theater (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2000).
· Robert Sklar, Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies (Vintage, 1994).
· Maggie Valentine, The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theater (Yale Univ. Press, 1996).




Page authored: 19 March 1997


Site Menu
Home
Introduction
Bright-Light Districts
Leisure Venues
Notable Events
Research Links
Bookstore
Table of Contents
About this Site
Copyrights/Citations
Newest Entries
Century of Progress
Lord's
The Hub
Lakeside Theater
Uptown Hotels
"Voice of the Movie Fan"

Updated Entries
Pantheon Theater
The Fair
Mandel Brothers

New Books

· Davarian L. Baldwin, Chicago's New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2007)

· Georg Leidenberger, Chicago's Progressive Alliance: Labor And the Bid for Public Streetcars (Northern Illinois Univ. Press, 2006)

· Jeffery S. Adler, First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt: Homicide in Chicago, 1875-1920 (Harvard Univ. Press, 2006)

· Suellen Hoy, Good Hearts: Catholic Sisters in Chicago's Past (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2006)

· Ann Durkin Keating, Chicagoland: City and Suburbs in the Railroad Age (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2005)

· Timothy B. Spears, Chicago Dreaming: Midwesterners and the City, 1871-1919 (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2005)

· James R. Grossman, ed., The Encyclopedia of Chicago (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2004)

Search Now: