Mercury Theater

7210 W. North Avenue,
Elmwood Park, IL 60707

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Balaban & Katz Corp., Cineplex Odeon, Plitt Theatres

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Nearby Theaters

Mercury theatre

The Mercury Theater opened on May 16, 1950. By the late-1950’s, it was acquired by the Balaban & Katz chain. In the 1970’s, the Mercury Theater was part of the Plitt Theatres chain. In the early-1980’s, the Mercury Theater was twinned.

On February 14, 1988, the Mercury Theater was closed by Cineplex-Odeon, and was demolished. Its last bookings were Charlie Sheen in “Wall Street” & “ Michael Douglas in "Fatal Attraction” & . The nearby Midwest Bank had the words “Goodbye Mercury” displayed on its signage at the time of the theater’s demolition.

A strip mall now sits on the site of the Mercury Theater.

Contributed by James Piscitelli

Recent comments (view all 39 comments)

danhere
danhere on December 1, 2014 at 3:28 am

I remember seeing the like BJ dirty dragon show back when I was young kid at this theater still have the dirty dragon banner signed by BJ

Jay Harvey
Jay Harvey on December 2, 2014 at 12:14 am

such a grand & majestic looking theatre. why must they be demolished for “progress?”

paulnelson
paulnelson on February 5, 2015 at 1:39 am

An art deco masterpiece and great marquee too. Major waste of a handsome theatre.

Jimz
Jimz on July 19, 2015 at 8:16 am

I work there from 1985 to 1988 I was an usher it was a great place to work in high school interesting people wasn’t the greatest paying job at the time 3 35 an hour but it was fun got a chance to see a lot of movies and dated some of the girls behind the counter. It was pretty sad when I watched them tear it down, lot of history went with it.

NicoToscani
NicoToscani on December 24, 2015 at 5:22 am

Saw my first movies ever here. Disney stuff. I recall a Herbie movie and The Rescuers. Saw Star Wars here with my dad in 77. It was awful when they split it into 2 screens. The floors and screens were totally lopsided as a result and I remember almost falling over in the aisles after a few pre show beers when I was in HS.

Realtorac
Realtorac on April 23, 2017 at 1:35 pm

My stepfather was a policeman in Elmwood park in the 50’s one night there was a burglar who broke in and when they went there they couldn’t find him. My dad heard a noise and found him hiding in the ceiling and arrested him. After that the manager gave our entire family fee admission for life. We saw every movie they showed every week. I even used to sit in the screening room with the engineer. It was so cool watching him change reals and the rod that would burn the light. Good memories.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on February 25, 2018 at 2:27 am

Summer 1968 photo & copy added credit John LeQuesne‎.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on August 27, 2019 at 11:14 pm

April 27, 1952 photo added credit Keith Powell.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on September 30, 2025 at 2:56 am

Closed on February 14, 1988 with “Wall Street” in Screen 1 and “Fatal Attraction” in Screen 2.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 30, 2025 at 5:44 pm

First listed in the Tribune on May 16th, 1950.

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