Remembering Benton’s Storied Capitol Theater

http://www.bentongazette.com/news/remembering-benton-s-storied-capitol-theater/article_d0461388-7ee0-11e7-9183-230318e89ee9.html

Interior of the Capitol Theater in the 1920’s. (Gazette photo)

BENTON, IL – (Benton Gazette.  Please click on the link for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

With the recently announced purchase of Toler Cinema in West City, many people have remarked about memories of another, sadly long gone, iconic piece of our community’s fabled past.

There’s few reminders left on the current site of the former Capitol Theater that once towered over the southeast corner of the Public Square in Benton. On its’ former lot now stands the Capitol Park Pavilion which was named in its’ honor and carries on its’ spiritual legacy as the host of live music and other entertainment during City festivals and happenings.

If you could time travel back nearly 100 years ago however, you would get a glimpse of the larger than life brick structure which was the hub of activity for Benton teenagers of the era. In the 20s, before the “talking pictures” had emerged, the theater served as the scene of many well-attended vaudeville acts, stage shows, and silent films—such as 1924’s “The Perfect Flapper” or D.W. Griffith’s “That Royle Girl” in 1925 which turned up in advertisements of the era.