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This historic theater dates back to 1927 and is located at the former home of the Old Opera House which was in Downtown Jacksonville. The theater began with the efforts of William Fox who opened the theater in 1927. A 1938 fire destroyed that structure and was quickly replaced by a new building designed by Carl and Robert O. Boller. The theater was the site of anti-segregation protests in the 1950s that demonstrate that the fight for civil rights was not limited to the South. In the 1970s, the theater was purchased by the Kerasotes Company.

Illinois Theatre

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Do you remember the days of going to the movie theatre? Remember, before Netflix and Hulu was invented, or getting a big bag of popcorn and a drink? Well sit back and relax because I’m going to talk about the Illinois Theatre in Jacksonville Illinois. Therefore throughout this speech I’m going to talk about the hardships and success of the Jacksonville Theatre, along with the history and importance that this Theatre has in Jacksonville.Back in 1927 Jacksonville was starting to boom. Jacksonville was moving into bigger and better things. Creating more opportunities and creating more possibilities for the community to grow and thrive as a whole. By saying that, the community of Jacksonville was wanting something new. The community wanted a movie theater. They decided to put this movie theater where the Old Opera House was. It was located in Downtown Jacksonville. The company behind this theater was Fox Company. The man with the plan was William Fox. Fox knew with creating this theater that it was going to be a great idea. Why you might ask? The reason was because Jacksonville had two colleges nearby and he knew with college students comes the good old movie dates. With those movie dates will come the revenue and with two colleges he thinks that it would double then a town with only one college. Which makes sense. Fox opened the theater in 1927. He wanted to open this theater as fast as he could because he knew that the community was eager to see what was in store for them. After opening day everything was going fine until the early 1938. The theater was caught on fire and later was demolished. After the fire the community was devastated. They wanted a new one. Immediately the community told the city that the theater was a great addition to Jacksonville and they need a new one. The city agrees to build a new one and decided to hire someone for the blueprints/layout. The creators behind the new theater was the Boller Brothers. The Boller Brothers were Carl and Robert O. Boller. These two were well educated in their field of work. One of them new about the technology that up was suppose to be use in the theater and the other one knew about architecture. These brother’s were great working together because they grew up learning about the same techniques.Therefore these two made theaters all over the country. They made old theaters come back to life, and made the new ones as modern or up to date with technology as they could. After the demolishment of the theater these two were the ones stepping up to the plate to create a new piece of Jacksonville's history. After the new theater was built it was the best thing that happened to Jacksonville in a very long time. The theater still had the same company behind it. Everything was going fine until the 1950’s. In Jacksonville we were dealing with segregation and they decided to protest by the Illinois Theatre. The segregation made the company think are we giving everyone the chance to watch a movie or are we being unfair to the others of the Jacksonville community. The tides change after that, because of the segregation issue Fox company decided to sell and move on. This happened in the early 1970’s. The new company that took over the theater was Kerasotes Company. This company was stationed in Chicago until moving down to Springfield to look for bigger and better opportunities. They saw Jacksonville as the jackpot. Two colleges means twice the movies. They were going to make bank on this. The Kerasotes Company was going to make this happen because they had modern technologies. Another big role in success was the company came to work for a booming community. They wanted a Theatre in their town and they got it. Illinois Theatre has a lot of history with Jacksonville. History played an important role of the Jacksonville Theater. That history that made it important is again, the location of it. It's downtown where everything is and where the community goes to see the sites. The community also played a big part in the theater’s history because they always wanted a theater. When the theater went down in fires the community insisted on having it rebuilt. So just remember if you plan on going to watch a movie at the theater in Jacksonville. Just remember the history behind it.

Want to go out and have some fun? Well come on down to Illinois Theatre in Jacksonville Illinois. We welcome everyone with a huge smile on our face and ready to give you a great experience at our theatre. We have been around for awhile now and won't be leaving anytime so. So if you looking for a great time or bored come on down to Illinois Theatre. You will have a blast. 

This is a short walking tour made possible by the work of students at Illinois College. 

Illinois Theatre

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