Prince Theatre

129 N. Walnut Avenue,
Princeville, IL 61559

Unfavorite No one has favorited this theater yet

Additional Info

Nearby Theaters

Prince Theatre

This little movie house, located on N. Walnut Avenue in the village of Princeville, operated from 1939 until the 1970’s.

It has since been demolished and a store is now on the site.

Contributed by Bryan

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on July 4, 2005 at 12:14 pm

Listed as the Prince in editions of Film Daily Yearbooks that I have; 1941 through to 1950. Seating capacity is given in the 1940’s as 160 and in 1950 is given as 205.

snorman
snorman on April 18, 2008 at 9:49 pm

It’s gone…nothing left

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 19, 2021 at 9:26 pm

From the July 2, 1943 issue of Film Daily, news about the Prince Theatre:

“The Prince, Princeville, Ill., in the Peoria district, has been reopened by its new owner, Harold Bouton. House was damaged by fire several weeks ago and was later sold by Ernest Peltier to Bouton. It has been entirely repaired and redecorated.”
A piece about Princeville’s businesses says this:
“Variety stores-Golden Rule The Golden Rule Store was in business around in the 1920s-30s. It was located on the west side of Walnut where Cordis Law Office is now located. It was later converted into a movie theater.”
The current address of the law firm Cordis & Cordis is 129 N. Walnut Avenue. As tiny Princeville is unlikely to have had more than one movie theater during that period, this was most likely the location of the Prince. If it was, then the building appears to be still standing, but somewhat altered. I’ll upload a small photo of the Golden Rule store, which can be compared with a recent Bing Maps street view (Google doesn’t provide one.)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 19, 2021 at 9:37 pm

My computer is acting up and won’t allow me to upload a photo, but the photo of the Golden Rule store’s building is the 29th in the slide show on this web page. The Bing Maps street view is at this link.

robboehm
robboehm on May 20, 2021 at 9:47 am

Uploaded an image from the Princeville High School 1946 Maroon Yearbook in which the Prince had a booster ad.

SethG
SethG on March 30, 2022 at 12:32 pm

This has not been demolished. It’s clear from the satellite view that the building has been covered in that cheap and awful facade along with a neighbor. In fact, the theater building portion has an obvious gap between the front of the building and that tacky plywood mess.

The building was constructed sometime between 1898 and 1909, when the map shows it as vacant. Still vacant, and in bad repair on the 1918 map, but a store on the 1933 update.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.