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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
Tabor 4147 W 12th - - 300 Demolished s,j(1913)
Temple 3121 N Lincoln - - - Closed 1922 j(1913-17)
Temple (Acme) 5241 N Clark 1910 - 600 Retail stores b,c,p
Terminal 3308 W Lawrence 1915 - 1500 Retail stores a,b,c
Terminal 3315 W Lawrence 1925 1/7/26 1800 Demolished -
Thalia 1807 S Allport 1892 - 900 Disused a,b,c
Thome 6241 N Clark - - - - j(1913-14)
Three Penny 2422 N. Lincoln 1911 - - Movie theater p
Tiffin 4045 W North 1912 - 700 Demolished r,s
Tiffin 4045 W North 1922 10/30/22 2300 Demolished a,b,c,g
Tivoli 6325 S Cottage Grove 1921 2/16/21 3400 Demolished a,b,c
Tower 1510 E 63rd 1925 4/11/25 3014 Demolished b,c
Triangle 73rd and Vincennes - - - - j(1913)
Triangle (Sunnyside, Sun) 7219 S Wentworth 1913 - 530 Closed 1950 a,b,c
Trocadero 518 S State - - - Demolished a
Try-It 1335 N Milwaukee - - 275 - j(1913),s
Tulane 6108 S Halsted 1912-13 - 297 Demolished a,p
20th Century 4708 S Prairie 1913 - 932 - b,c
Twentieth Century 3530 W Roosevelt 1912-13 - 796 - a,b,c
U.S. 546 S State - - - - a,c
Union 4630 S Ashland - - - - j(1913)
United Artists Randolph and Dearborn 1922 12/26/27 1694 Demolished b,c
University 1913 W VanBuren - - 300 Demolished j(1920),s
Uno 365 E 26th - - - - -
Uptown 4614 N Broadway 1925 8/18/25 4307 Disused b,c
Vendome 3145 S State 1918 - 1265 Demolished a,b,c
Venice 1009 S Halsted - - - - -
Verdi 301 E Kensington - - 348 - a,b,c
Verdi 2035 W 35th - - 959 Became McKinley Park Th. r,s(1912)
Vernon 436 E 61st - - 742 Demolished a,b,c
Victor 931 E 43rd - - - - j(1913)
Victoria 511 S Crawford - - - Demolished a,j(1913)
Victoria 10935 S Michigan - - - - a
Victoria (Vic) 3145 N Sheffield 1912 - - Movie theater a,b
Victoria 2811 W 22nd - - 344 - a,j(1913)
Victory 91st and Cottage Grove - - 2000 - c
Violet 1528 W 18th - - 255 Demolished j(1913),s
Virginia 210 E 43rd - - 286 - a,b,c
Virginia Madison and Halsted - - - - j(1913)
Vision 2650 W Division - - 722 - c
Vista 824 E 47th - - 975 - a,c
Vitagraph 3133 N Lincoln 1914 - 998 - a,b,c
Vogue 3810 N Broadway 1916 - 1800 Demolished -
Wabash 1838 S Wabash - - 1340 - a,b,c
Wallace 622 W 31st - - 300 - a,b,c
Warsaw 1071 N Milwaukee - - 248 - j(1913),s
Washington 3440 S State 1912-13 - - Demolished p
Waverly 527 S Halsted 1912-13 - 556 - a,b,c,p
Weneeda 5038 W Chicago - - 292 - c
Wentworth 4464 S Wentworth - - - - j(1913)
West End 121 N Cicero 1916 - 1119 - a,b,c
West Englewood (Ogden) 1619 W 63rd 1912 - 2042 Demolished a,b,c,p
Western 2311 W Lake - - 298 - a,b,c
Western 2743 W 22nd - - 750 - b,c
White Eagle 1618 W 18th - - 297 - c,j(1913),s
White Eagle 2220 N Robey - - - - j(1913)
White House 508 S Kedzie - - - - j(1913)
White Palace 3271 W Armitage - - - - j(1913)
White Palace 1609 S Kedzie 1910 5/-/10 750 Demolished a,b,c
White Rose 1418 S 40th - - - - j(1913)
Wiley 2153 N Lincoln - - - - j
Willard 340 E 51st - - 1195 - b,c
Wilson (4 Star) 2418 W Madison 1917-18 - 1300 Demolished a,b,c,p
Winchester 1936 W Chicago - - - - j
Windsor 1225 N Clark 1913 5/11/13 1256 - a,b,c
Windsor 431 N Laramie - - 299 - a,c
Windsor Park 2638 E 75th - - - - a,c
Wonderland (New Wonderland) 734 W Madison 1906 - 383 - b,c
Woodlawn 55th and Woodlawn - - - - j(1913)
Woodlawn 854 E 63rd 1917 4/26/18 1250 Demolished a,c
Woodlawn 6201 S Cottage Grove 1922-23 - - - b,p
Woods 54 W Randolph 1917 - 1158 Demolished c
Yale 5149 W Chicago - - - - j(1914)
York Palace 639 S Paulina 1913 - - Demolished j(1914),r
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


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