Auditorium
915 8th Avenue,
Erie,
IL
61250
915 8th Avenue,
Erie,
IL
61250
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The only good candidates for anything demolished on Main would be the little telephone building south of the old city hall, the ugly thing on the southeast corner with 8th, the lot next to the grocery store, and the bank. I wonder, given the dates, if both weren’t in the same building.
Konrad Schiecke’s book Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois, 1883-1960 lists the Auditorium but mistakenly places it on the second floor. An article about the March, 1943 fire that destroyed the building said that “[t]he rear part of the Breed block served as an auditorium and was used extensively until the erection of the Erie Community high school. The high school basketball games were also played in the auditorium and it was used as a dance hall, skating rink, theater building and general meeting place.”
The use of the Auditorium for dances, basketball games and roller skating suggests that it was probably a typical small town multi-purpose hall of the period with a flat floor. Schiecke notes two later movie theaters in Erie, both located on Main Street and both since demolished: the 240-seat Erie Theatre, in operation from 1932 to 1947, and the 360-seat J&G Theatre, in operation from 1947 to 1952.