Freeman's Hall Theatre
134 S. State Street,
Geneseo,
IL
61254
134 S. State Street,
Geneseo,
IL
61254
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Freeman’s Block was constructed sometime before 1886. From the beginning, a hall with stage and scenery was located on the second floor, while the ground floor was used for retail. The 1905 Cahn guide lists Freeman’s Theatre with a capacity of 500.
By 1914-15, this was in use showing movies. The hall is still shown on the 1922 map, but there is no indication whether or not it was still operating as a cinema.
The building today is fairly well preserved, and is used by a furniture store.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Freeman’s Hall, Pliny Freeman proprietor, is listed with 600 seats in Harry Miner’s dramatic directory for 1884-85. A book called Geneseo Centennial History 1836-1936 mentions a gathering to celebrate the opening of the town’s first library in 1881, held at Freeman’s Hall. A book with biographical sketches of some of Geneseo’s prominent citizens includes Pliny Freeman, saying that around 1869 he invested in rebuilding a commercial building his brother had owned which had been destroyed by fire that year. Though the book doesn’t specify, that might have been the building which contains Freeman’s Hall.