Lincoln Theatre
217-219 8th Street,
Cairo,
IL
62914
217-219 8th Street,
Cairo,
IL
62914
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The building was still standing in 2016 when I visited (see my photo in the Photos tab). The Google street view from September 2023 shows a pile of rubbish where the building once stood.
This was demolished sometime between 2013 and 2023.
In the photo above, the Lincoln is showing a movie released in 1948, which would seem to confirm that the Rodgers became the Lincoln in 1947.
Thanks agin Joe.
The Lincoln Theatre in Cairo was mentioned in Boxoffice of June 14, 1947. The Opera House had burned down on February 7 that same year. If the Rodgers became the Lincoln when it replaced the Opera House as the town’s African-American theater, then the name change must have taken place that year.
Boxoffice of October 26, 1957, reported that the Rodgers circuit had announced that their Lincoln Theatre at Cairo would be closed “…for an indefinite period.” I haven’t found any later mentions of the Lincoln in Boxoffice.
I believe the Rodgers Theater became the Lincoln Theater when it became Cairo’s African American move theater after the Opera House closed in the 50’s.