Princess Theatre

Joe Vogel on December 16, 2025 at 2:08 pm

Hoopeston had an earlier Princess Theater, listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD along with houses called the Colonial and the Virginian. The latter was the only one with an address listed, that being 310 E. Main Street. The Virginian and McFerren’s Opera House are the only theaters appearing on the 1913 Sanborn map of Hoopeston. An August 14, 1915 item and a May 20, 1916 item in Moving Picture World mention the Princess and a house called the Lyric at Hoopeston.

Okay, here is information about the first Princess from the July 3, 1909 issue of The Billboard. An item says that the Princess Amusement Company of Chicago had taken control of the Virginian Theatre at Hoopeston and it would be operated as a first class vaudeville and motion picture house called the Princess. This doesn’t explain the double listing of the Princess and Virginian in the 1914-1915 AMPD, but maybe it does explain why only the one theater (other than McFerren’s) appears on the 1913 Sanborn. The Colonial and the Lyric remain complete mysteries.