Wheaton Grand Theater
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
123 N. Hale Street,
Wheaton,
IL
60187
18 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Valos Theaters
Architects: Norman Brydges
Previous Names: Grand Theater, Paramount Theater, Wheaton Theater
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jul 9, 2012 — Volunteers raise funds to save historic Wheaton Grand Theater
- Apr 14, 2011 — Wheaton Grand to be demolished?
- May 4, 2010 — Wheaton Grand might return to full time cinema use
- Feb 17, 2010 — Happy 85th Anniversary, Wheaton Grand Theatre
- Mar 13, 2006 — Wheaton Grand Theater to Close for Restoration April 1st
- Feb 2, 2004 — Wheaton's Grand Theatre Rocks On
The Grand Theatre, which opened in 1925 with 1,000 seats, closed in the late-1990’s as a second-run movie house and is seeking to raise between $5-7 million for restoration costs. The new owners, the Wheaton Grand Theater Corp., reopened the theater on a limited basis in 2002 with the Wheaton Grand Theatre serving as a venue for concerts, classic film screenings and other community events.
The Wheaton Grand Theater closed April 1, 2006, to allow for the beginning of an $8 million restoration and renovation project which was expected to take around two years to return the theater to its original appearance, including a return to a single screen configuration. Unfortunately, by 2021, these plans had come to nothing, and the theatre sits empty and unused.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick, Dave Wiegers
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 370 comments)
Man after all the dedate and name calling on this site now another set back thats too bad looks like a nice theatre.
Send the Wonder Morton back home to the Kings where it belongs
Let everybody understand, I like the Wheaton Grand. I would grimace at seeing this movie palace wrecked. However, being a preservationist, I would truly appreciate the return of the remaining Wonder Morton components to the Kings, if the parties found a way to accomplish this. In the event the Wheaton Grand is saved, there ARE other theater organs out there, awaiting a new home. In fact, I know of a virtually complete 3m Wurlitzer right in my home town, that is available!
A new group is raising funds online to purchase and restore the Wheaton Grand for use as a concert venue and performing arts center. Visit the fundraiser page at http://www.indiegogo.com/thegrand
I never did understand why they had to stop doing concerts here. It seems like it was a reasonable business at least. That they didn’t continue with local shows while money was raised was always a question mark for me.
A prospective buyer has come forward with plans to restore the Wheaton Grand if the sale goes through and a fund raising drive is successful: View article
Great news,thanks….not another parking lot…
If anyone sees this, I am the main volunteer in the restoration of the Wheaton Grand Theater. I will occasionally post updates as they happen on here, and please bookmark www.wheatongrandtheater.com and like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WheatonGrandTheater and if you feel gracious, please donate a few bucks to our cause. We are already making big strides and hope to have this open in 2014/15.
Back in 2011 I learned about the Lowes Kings Wonder Morton console, etc. and the premise of it possibly being installed in the Wheaton, if restoration commenced.. I posted that it should rather be returned to it’s original location in the Kings. I just learned that two months after my posts that it’s owners DID arrange for it’s return to New York! Hurray!
Any new updates, on the restoration of this theater? I hope a restoration could successfully occur, for this theater. Unlike the DuPage Theater in Lombard, which got demolished. :(