Granada Theatre
104 N. 9th Street,
Mount Vernon,
IL
62864
104 N. 9th Street,
Mount Vernon,
IL
62864
8 people
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This theatre has been reopened as a live performance venue and event rental hall. Website
The Granada’s restored marquee in action. The house hosted a fashion show on May 26, but I know of no other events since then. The official web site has not been updated.
A 1995 article about the history of Mount Vernon’s theaters can be found on this web page. It says that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Granada was held on June 7, 1937, and the theater had its grand opening on December 16.
In 1971, the Granada and the Stadium were taken over by Kerasotes Theatres, which had for some time already operated the Mount Vernon Drive-In. The Granada was twinned in 1981. In 1995, Kerasotes built an 8-screen multiplex in an outlet mall on the outskirts of Mount Vernon, still open now as the AMC Classic Mount Vernon 8, and the Granada was closed after a run of almost sixty years.
Hello everyone…. I just thought I would give you a quick update on the Granada Theatre in Mt. Vernon. As of May 1st, 2017 I purchased the theatre with the intention of updating the interior, exterior and expanding it’s uses to include live performances and event rentals (wedding receptions etc…). You can find out more at our website http://thegranadatheatre.com. There are links to social media as well as a signup form for our mailing list. Thanks for the photos! They are really cool and I hope you can all come visit someday!
Russell Brown
P.S. I found tons of historical images and made several facebook albums with them. You can find them here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1935868943325162.1073741833.1610259822552744&type=1&l=6c9a593ad0
I just shot some photos of the Granada Theater on my trip through Southern Illinois this Summer. Here’s a link to them on my Flickr page.
Nice.
Here are photos from 1983 and 1985:
http://tinyurl.com/rdzpkp
http://tinyurl.com/oj5rf6
http://tinyurl.com/q8r7n5
http://tinyurl.com/r9ov6v
Astromonkey, David Lister can be reached at He’s the guy in the know. The group also has a list serve: If you want to be added to the list serve, you can e-mail with that request.
I used to work at this theater when I was a kid … closed the doors on its last day as a movie house. Good to see that there are people working to fix it up as it has lots of potential to be a beautiful landmark for the area.
Does anyone have any contact info for the people who are working to fix it up?
There did not appear to be a lot of work going on presently at the theater, but there was a scissors lift in the lobby and a front end loader in back, so perhaps something is going on. This looked like by far the coolest of the three theaters along this street, and seems to retain an abnormal amount of decor, at least in the lobby. The chandeliers are particularly fantastic. I hope this project pulls through, it looks like a very worthy theater!
Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ctid3205/
Join the Granada Theater group on Yahoo! to read current events or to post questions, comments, stories, or pictures concerning the granada Theater in downtown Mt.Vernon, Illinois.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/granadatheater
I wish I was still in the area so I could volunteer to help restore the Granada Theater. I am so proud of the work that has been do so far. I wish you all the best of luck in re-opening the theater and finding events that will make the Granada the social hub of downtown Mt.Vernon, Illinois.
More photos:
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/10/granada1.jpg
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/10/granada2.jpg
There was an article in the paper today that a marquee restoration drive is underway.
The Granada Theatre was operated by Fox Midwest Amusement Corp. in the 1940’s. The Film Daily Yearbook, 1941 gives a seating capacity of 1,000. In the 1950 edtion of F.D.Y. seating is given as 1,200.
Glad to see so much interest in the Granada. There is no single owner, and it is not for sale. The group is updating bathrooms right now (Feb 2005) and have installed fire doors in the rear of the building. Anyone with resources or who would like to make a donation may e-mail the group at The group is trying to get the building up to code in order to hold fund-raising events. Another theater in Mt. Vernon, the Plaza, is also being renovated but not as a theater. It had been converted to an office, and the tin ceiling had been covered. That is being opened up now. It’s been hidden behind a false ceiling for 30 years.
Heard on the news tonight that the Mt. Vernon High School choir(I hope that is the choir) sang here today for a Rotary Club luncheon. The owner(or at least the man in charge of restoration) said that things have been going ok and that people are starting to get interested in restoration. It was mentioned though that several thousand dollars was still needed to reopen the theater to the public.
No, I haven’t heard anything about this theater since I first saw it on the news.
This theater was on the local news in early March. It is being restored for use as a community center.