Washington Theatre

This historic Belleville building dates to 1913, when it opened as the Washington Theatre and featured vaudeville acts and movies. An open-air theater was built on the south half of the lot, behind the theater building by 1917, with the stage along Washington St. Washington Theatre became Illinois Theater in 1938 and continued to show movies until 1955. Washington Theatre is one of the dozens of historical buildings within the Blair Historic District, covering nine blocks in downtown Belleville west of Illinois Street. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The owner has established their medical accounting business offices in the building and offers six additional commercial suites for leasing.

The Washington Theatre building stands on part of the original town limits of Belleville. By the first decade of the twentieth century, the footprint of the future theater (then 214-216-218 W. Main St.) was developed with a one-story brick building used as a Blacksmith shop at #218. There was a small, wood frame shed attached to the east side, but no other building stood at #216 or #214. A lumber company used the center of the long lot for storage, and a cigar box factory store stood at the far south end, in a brick building along W. Washington St.

Grand opening at the Washington Theatre was held on January 17th, 1913; vaudeville acts and a silent movie were the entertainment. There was one movie screen in the Washington Theatre, and seating for 910; an asbestos curtain separated the stage from the audience for extra protection from fire. The two-story building with a flat roof held a secret in its walls - chimes that were controlled from the orchestra pit, creating a stereo type of sound. The lumber yard was gone by 1917 and replaced with an open-air theater and a two-story wood frame operators booth; a wooden stage replaced the cigar box factory.

The building's name changed to the Illinois Theater in late 1938 after remodeling. The revamped theater opened on Christmas Day 1938 with a showing of the movie "Room Service" by the Marx Brothers. Newspaper ads touted the Illinois Theatre as "a New theatre, with everything changed including the name...The New ILLINOIS embodies the spirit of progress which has always marked the life of Belville...With a mission to cheer and entertain those who pass its portals. To lift from the shoulders of mankind the burdens of the day's trials..." Tickets to the seats on the main floor cost 30 cents in December 1938; balcony tickets were 20 cents and children's tickets cost 10 cents. The projectionists' booth and stage from the open-air theatre to the rear of the building were gone by 1949.

The movie theater closed in 1955. A furniture store, Hiken Furniture, occupied the building from 1956 to 1975. Next, the building contained the Illinois Public Aid Services and the Social Security Administration. Precision Practice Managment, a medical billing services company, moved in after a 1977 purchase and renovation. Owner Renae Hillesheim Eichholz next undertook the restoration of the outside of the theater building beginning in 2007, including removal of metal cladding that had been hiding the original brick main facade. As of late 2022, six suites were available for leasing, or around 14,000 of the building's 40,000 square feet.

Anonymous. "Illinois Theatre Opens Christmas Day." Belleville Daily Advocate (Belleville) December 23rd, 1938. Illinois Theatre sec, 1-1.

Belleville Historical Society. Old Washington Theatre, 2013 Plein Air Art Auction. January 1st, 2013. Accessed November 23rd, 2022. http://bellevillehistoricalsociety.org/events/plein-air-art-auction-13/old-washington-theatre/.

Krefft, Bryan. Illinois Theatre, 214 W. Main St., Belleville, IL 62220, Cinema Treasures. October 27th, 2021. Accessed November 23rd, 2022. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/11524.

LoopNet. 222 W. Main St, 14,364 SF of Office Space Available in Belleville IL, LoopNet. January 1st, 2022. Accessed November 25th, 2022. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/222-W-Main-St-Belleville-IL/26940779/.

Preservation Research Office. Blair Historic District, Projects. August 6th, 2015. Accessed November 23rd, 2022. http://preservationresearch.com/projects/blair-historic-district/#site-header.

Voigt, Jason. Washington Theatre, Historical Marker Database. July 15th, 2020. Accessed November 27th, 2022. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=152865.