Plaza Theatre

300 N. Market Street,
Marion, IL 62959

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 3, 2014 at 9:08 am

Yes, the address is for the architect. Building trade journals usually gave the addresses of architects, builders, and sometimes even subcontractors, but only occasionally gave the addresses of the projects themselves. Theater trade journals such as Film Daily were more likely to give the addresses of the theaters, though they sometimes gave the address of the person or company having the theater built, which was often another theater that was already in operation.

Chris1982
Chris1982 on June 2, 2014 at 11:51 am

Your article says the theatre was located on Jefferson St., this Plaza was on N. Market St.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 11, 2013 at 1:48 pm

Williamson County, Illinois, Sesquicentennial History, edited by Stan J. Hale, says that the Plaza Theatre was originally a silent era movie house called the Family Theatre.

The Family Theatre was in operation by 1914, when the June 20 issue of The American Contractor ran this item about a remodeling job:

“Marion, O.—Motion Picture Theater (rem.): 2 sty. Archt. J. J. Sloan, 120 Jefferson St. Owner Family Theater, Hanley & Van Aspeck. Working drawings in progress.”
The Family Theatre was open only two nights a week when it was damaged by a fire in 1926. In 1928, Sunday services of a church burned in another fire were held at the Family Theatre for several months. I don’t know of the Family was closed for any length of time before being reborn as the Plaza, but I haven’t found any mention of it dating from later than 1928.