Strand Theatre

109 SW 4th Street,
Fairfield, IL 62837

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Pershing Theatre

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Opened as the Pershing Theatre in the early-1920’s. It was renamed Strand Theatre in 1932 when sound was added. It closed when the larger Strand Theatre was built on Main Street in 1935.

History courtesy the book Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois, 1883-1960
By Konrad Schiecke

Contributed by David Zornig

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on December 16, 2019 at 8:53 pm

I believe this former theatre building is on 4th Street next door/behind Joe’s Body Shop. If you do a street view search of 401 E Main St Fairfield, Illinois 62837, scroll left and look down 4th Street. There is a small building next door that has a vintage style overhang like a theatre of that era would have. I have reached out to Joe’s Body Shop if they know the address of that building and it’s history.

SethG
SethG on January 17, 2020 at 12:53 pm

That’s the wrong 4th St. The Pershing was at 109 SW 4th St, which was called 10th St until before 1923, and was called Walnut before 1901.

The 1923 Sanborn shows the Pershing on the corner of W 4th St and W Delaware St. It was a brick building, one to two stories tall, with the screen in a concrete section at the rear. The building seems to have been a conversion of the Fairfield Ice & Coal Co., which occupied a building with the same footprint and concrete rear section on the 1913 map. The wooden front section was replaced, possibly during the conversion. This corner was home to industrial enterprises at least as far back as 1901.

The lot is now home to a cheap prefab shed which houses the local American Legion post.

The building you’re talking about is very shallow, and is a store on the 1923 map. Before that, it may have been the offices of a livery stable, but it’s been remodeled so much it’s hard to tell how old it is.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on January 17, 2020 at 4:31 pm

Thank you for the clarification.
I only found it by scrolling around the area via Google street view.

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