A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:

Chillicothe  history was made on September 24, 2009 when the Chillicothe Optimist Club, by a near unanimous vote, decided to pursue the purchase of the sixty year old movie theater known as the "Town Theatre" in downtown Chillicothe in an effort to enhance its service to youth.  It is believed to be unprecedented for an Optimist Club in Illinois or perhaps in the entire United  States to undertake the challenge to purchase and operate a movie theatre to serve youth.  Serving youth has been the sole objective of the Chillicothe Optimist Club since its formation nearly 25 years ago in May of 1985.

We are inviting all youth organizations and children of all ages to join us in our quest to further enhance our service to youth in the Chillicothe area.  All of your ideas are welcome.  Please help us help our kids!

 

Yours in optimism,

Michael T. Mahoney, President, Chillicothe Optimist Club

 

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Located at:

1029 N.2nd Street, Chillicothe,IL      phone: (309)274-3545

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING MOVIES OR MOVIE TIMES, PLEASE CHECK YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER, CALL THE NUMBER ABOVE (274-3545), OR PRESS THE "NOW PLAYING"  BUTTON ABOVE.

History of the Town Theatre

 

By Gary Fyke

 

October 12, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

On Halloween night 1890,William King closed his tavern on the NE corner of Second and

Pine Street

. He lived in quarters behind the tavern and as he checked the rear door, he saw the signs of fire coming from the stable across

Pine Street

. Little did he know that he was the first person to discover the fire that would wreak havoc on the business district of Chillicothe, destroying every structure on both sides of

Second Street

north of

Pine Street

as well as half of those south of Pine.

 

The businessmen of the city, near the turn of the century were hardy souls and not easily defeated. Within forty-eight hours many of the businesses destroyed by the fire were already operational in temporary quarters scattered around the city as they made arrangements to rebuild their burned out properties. By 1892, many of the properties had been rebuilt and business was returning to normal. Some of the land within the burned out areas though was traded or exchanged or bought and sold.  One of the buyers during this time was Daniel Kelly, who bought a parcel of land in lot 10 of Block 18 of the Jamison & Hart Addition to the Town of Chillicothe, which is comprised of the south half of the west side of the 200 Block of North Second Street.  When the renumbering of the lots was done, the 200 block of

2^nd Street

became the 1000 block. The theatre is located at 1029 N. Second.

 

Kelly established a grocery store on the property in1896 in a building that housed his store and another business on the ground floor, a dance hall on the second level and an opera house on the front of  half of the third floor. The building became an outstanding feature of the town for local uses as well as for the grand stage and musical productions brought in by Kelly.  Kelly closed his street-level store in the early 1900s and became a landlord , moving to Argo, Illinois.  Even though he no longer lived in Chillicothe, he continued booking theatrical and musical productions into his opera house. In 1910, he changed the name of the opera house to the “Airdrome,” which had bocome a national trend across the country. 

 

Around 9:00pm on December 15, 1922, fire again demonstrated its control over structures made by men. A fire in the Wagner Clothing store grew so fast that the entire building was consumed despite the efforts of local and Peoria fire companies who fought the blaze in the severe cold and high winds. Damage to adjacent buildings varied from severe to minor.As well, many businesses on the east side of the street suffered heat sear damage to the fronts of their stores and window glass was warped, much being replaced in the spring. The burned opera house building was a pile of rubble and remained that way until June 26, 1923 when Kelly sold the property to Elmer Sturm and his wife Maude for $10,000 (2007 CPI value $117,100).

 

Sturm held the property for several years without doing anything with it. But in January 1925, Sturm announced that he would build a movie theater with a store room on the south side of the theatre. He put together the necessary contractors and set about erecting  the building. The plans called for 40 foot by 80 foot building including a 20 foot lobby with a 10 foot by 20 foot store room on each side of the lobby. These rooms would be rental units. The 20 foot by 70 foot room was to be a rental unit as well. There would be a steam heating plant in the basement of the theatre to provide heat to the entire structure. A canopy would be built on the front. Seating for 450 would be in circular arrangement. The lobby would have marble floors and drinking fountains, a restroom for women and a smoking room for men. He named the theatre “The Sunset” and anticipated a December 1, 1926 opening.

 

Elmer Sturm did not manage his December 1 opening date because of several interruptions. Weather delays and material shortages were significant problems as was the serious injuries suffered by Sturm when he fell from a scaffold while working on one of the walls of the building in late November. Sturm was hospitalized for a lengthy period,  adding to the delay of the completion of the building. The first notice found  in the Chillicothe Bulletin that the Sunset was in operation was July 9, 1927. There was no big media presentation of the Sunset opening day. Sturm had arranged a partnership with George Graham to share the cost of some fixtures and equipment for the theater and to manage the theatre in exchange for a share of the theatres net profits. George Graham managed the Palace Theatre, located across the street and north several buildings and owned by Mrs. Myrtle Warren. Mrs. Warren and her husband had purchased the Majestic Theatre April 27, 1923 and resided above the theatre. The Warrens renamed their theatre the Palace. Mr. Warren died suddenly shortly after they had purchased the Majestic, with Mrs.Warren the owner of record and Graham as the manager.

 

The Sunset continued to operate in competition with the already established Palace theatre across the street for nearly two-and-a-half years, without spending much on newspaper advertising. Frank Coon purchased the Palace theatre from Mrs. Warren in December 29, 1928. In March of 1930, Sturm entered into an agreement with Frank J. Rolan and Frank N. Coon, co-owners of the Palace to operate both theatres as a partnership named “The Chillicothe Theater Company.”  The agreement allowed Sturm to remain owner of the property and equipment of the Sunset while Rolan and Coon retained ownership and control of their property at the Palace. After all expenses were met, they would split the net profits 50/50. Rolan was designated the manager of both theatres and the agreement contained a lengthy list of methods, procedures, and duties for Rolan to comply with and to follow. The list amounted to a job description for the position of manager. The agreement was to expire five years later on January 1, 1934.

 

On June 11, 1930, Sturm borrowed another $6000 ($74,500 2007 CPI value) using the Sunset as collateral for the loan.  The lender, Bank of Peoria, insisted that Sturm and his partners make an agreement that would allow Sturm to keep the Sunset and his equipment in the event that any of them would die or the partnership dissolve during the period of the loan, thus securing the Bank’s risk. Sturm was not finished with his financial and land transactions. He was very active in real estate and investing in the Chillicothe area. By October 24, 1930,  he sold his interest in the Chillicothe Theatre Company to Bert Potter, subject to the terms of the agreements Sturm had with Rolan and Coon and the banks. Potter remained in that partnership until June of 1935 when he sold his interest to Frank Rolan. Sturm still remained owner of the Sunset building.

 

 

George and Nick Kerasotes purchased the Palace theatre from F.J. Rolan in December 1939.  In September 1943,  Kerasotes promoted their current manager at the Palace, H. Ray Chadwick, to Havana, Illinois where he would manager two theatres. They hired a new manager for the Palace named Irvin Longenbach.  Longenbach had previous movie theatre experience, but was new to the Kerasotes company, when he was sent to Chillicothe. Ownership of the Sunset remained steady until March 13, 1944 when the Kerasotes Company bought it from Elmer Sturm. There is little information concerning the Sunset from 1944 through 1949. Both theatres were in operation during that time.  In 1949 Kerasotes decided to remodel and rename the Sunset. In the May 20, 1949 issue of the Chillicothe Bulletin, Longenbach announced that there would be a contest to select a new name for the theatre. People were invited to submit, 25 words or less, a short name and the reason for choosing it, on a post card, to be sent to the Palace postal box. The winner would receive a year free pass to the new theatre. All names had to be submitted by May 31, 1949. In the June 11th issue of the Chillicothe Bulletin, Longenbach  reported that all the submissions had been forwarded to the home office in Springfield, where the winning name would be chosen.  It was expected to take a month for the winner to be chosen.

 

A remodeling plan was described in the local paper. In reality, it was a total rebuilding of the theatre. Kerasotes employed a preeminent designer of theatres, Alex J. Claesson of Morris, Illinois to design the new structure. The design called for gutting the entire interior of the building to the walls. They then added thirty feet to the rear of the existing building , leading to a projected seating capacity of 650.  It appears that the seating actually totaled around 530. The coal fired heating system was replaced with a fuel-oil furnace and a complete air conditioning system was installed. The cooling coils were situated under the new stage and allowed the air to be “conditioned” for humidity and temperature. The front wall of the first floor level was closed in, replacing the original  plate glass front windows of the two rooms on the sides of the lobby. The south room would be converted to rest rooms and the north room would be made into the manager’s office and a concession stand. An arched roof was put on and a marquee of yellow and maroon, with matching  porcelain and stainless steel façade panels. A fireproof ticket booth was installed.  A “cry room” was added adjacent to the projection room. The old seats of the Sunset were replaced with those of the Palace. New additional seats were added in the expanded area, raising the number to 600. Labor problems, as before, again interfered with construction and remodeling work on the building. Material shortages also contributed to the delay in completion, making the opening date of December 2nd an questionable. The estimated cost of the remodeling was in excess of $50,000 (20107  value over $500,000).

 

In the November 11, 1949 issue of the Bulletin, there was a Section Two which devoted the entire front page to the new theatre. One article announced the winner of the naming contest. The new theatre would be called “The Town.” The winning name had been submitted by Mrs. Flossie Harvey of Chillicothe. The information was that “The Town” would open on the planned date of December 2, 1949 as a “First Run” movie house, which meant the theatre would show new movies the first time they were made available. The first public showing was the “Kids Christmas Show” on Friday December 2, 1949. The feature movie was “The Gal Who Took The West” starring Yvonne De Carlo, Charles Coburn, Scott Brady and Jane Russell. That movie ran Friday and Saturday and was followed on Sunday and Monday with “My Friend Irma” starring John Lund, Maria Wilson, Diana Lynn and Don Defore.  There was a free “kid show” at the Town immediately following the Christmas Parade.

 

Native Chillicothean Dianne Gill-Colwell remembers that day very clearly. She says that she ran as fast as she could to the theatre to be sure to get into the “free” show. She says she doesn’t remember the “Gal Who Took The West” but does recall “My Friend Irma.” The first public showing began at 7:00pm.The Kerasotes’ decided to keep the Palace open on weekends only to determine whether there was enough attendance to keep both theatres running.

 

The staff of the new “Town” Theatre was made up of the Manager Irvin Longenbach,, Patricia Coon, Paul Kaiser, Rosemarie Smith, Richard Zilm, Marjorie McCormick, Jack Bradley, Beverly Taylor, and Stanley Hill. On hand for the Grand Opening were George Kerasotes, General Manager of the theatre chain, his wife, Irvin Longenbach, manager of the new Town Theatre and Mayor Zinser. Mrs. Longenbach and Mrs. R.E. Blackwell were hostesses for the opening ceremonies.

 

In March of 1985, a fire broke out in the concession stand temporarily closing the Town. When Kerasotes closed the theatre for remodeling, they decided to “twin” the theatre. The splitting of older large capacity theatres and building multiple screen theatres had become a frequent practice in the late 1970s and early 1980s.The construction of the Town began in late March 1985 and was divide into “front and rear” theatres. They added a second projection room, new exits, new sound equipment, as-well-as, new drapes and new carpeting. They did the front theatre room first and when finished, began the construction of the second “house.” This allowed them to keep the theatre open throughout the renovation. One room contained 210 seats and the second 148 seats for a total of 358. Franklin Larkin, Regional Director of Kerasotes Theatres, reported in the June 7, 1985  issue of the Chillicothe Bulletin that attendance for weekend movies had been averaging 200 customers per night on weekends. The new “twin theatres” have been  in operation since June 7, 1985.

  

The Town theatre was run by the Kerasotes Company until they sold it to Vernon Reynolds on April 29,1999. While he owned the Town Theatre, Reynolds  rebuilt the frame structure of the original lighted marquee canopy. The face of the theatre is just as it was built in 1949.  Reynolds installed a stereo sound system to the large house several years after he purchased the theatre. Reynolds sold the theatre to The Chillicothe Optimist Club October 14,  2009 for $200,000.

 

The Optimist  Club utilizes a committee of their Board of Directors to administer the operations of the employee staff  which  handles the daily operations of the Town Theatre.  The Optimist Club plans to give the theatre a thorough cleaning, rehabing the fire alarm system, upgrad the lobby area, interior sound curtains, install new seats, install a stereo sound system in Cinema I, and generally repair and maintain the building.

 

The Optimist Club will reserve a percentage of the gross income of the theatre to cover  unexpected maintenance  matters and to prepare for the conversion to digital and 3-D projection systems. All profits after operational expenses will be distributed to programs and activities benefiting youth of our community.  The mission of the Optimist Club is expressed in its motto:”Friend of Youth”.  It has entered this project to further that mission.  

 

Sources:           PeoriaCountyLand and Tax Records

                        Mr. Vern Reynolds

                        Mr. Ervin Longenbach

                        The Chillicothe Bulletin

                        The Chillicothe Enquirer

                        The Chillicothe Independent

                        Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres, LLC www.kerasotes.com/Home.aspx

                        Samuel H. Williamson, :

Six Ways

to Compute the relative value of a US                            Dollar Amount, 1790-2008, “Measuring Worth.com, 2008

                        Edited: JB Culbertson