Tivoli Theatre

126 Public Square,
Knoxville, IL 61448

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Lyric Theatre

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Tivoli Theatre

This theatre appears on the 1918 Sanborn, in an old, single-story brick building dating to before 1886. The 1909 map shows it in use as furniture and an undertaker. It opened in 1912 as the Lyric Theatre.

It was renamed Tivoli Theatre in 1928. It remained in operation on the 1944 map, the only change being the partial demolition of some old wood frame store rooms behind it.

Closed many years ago, this has been demolished, along with everything else that was on the south side of the square. The replacements are placed differently, but this seems to have been under the eastern half of the main funeral home building.

Contributed by Seth Gaines

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on April 4, 2022 at 12:33 am

I Cannot Find As Much Detail After 1962 About The Tivoli, But It Was Still In Operation At The Time.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 5, 2022 at 1:13 am

Quite a few mentions of the Tivoli appear in trade journals through the 1920s. The house was operated by Earle J. Williams from at least as early as 1924. It’s likely that Williams was the person who later opened the Earl Theatre. Knoxville is represented in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory by two theaters: the Lyric, also located on the south side of the square, so possibly the same house as the Tivoli, and the Opera House, no location given. The earliest mention of Knoxville I’ve found in the trades is from 1910, when the January 22 issue of Moving Picture World said that “R. O. Farmer is to open a new moving picture theater here.”

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