Address: Main Street
Built: 1950
What is currently at that address: Condos
The Prospect Theater was once a center in the community. It was a classic one screen theater with a location to which hundreds of families could walk. It opened in 1950 and was big deal in a small town like Mount Prospect. This was the first real theater to open in the community and it was a sign of the community’s development. It opened the day after Christmas with Tea For Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae and Copper Canyon starring Ray Milland and Hedy Lemarr. When the Prospect Theater opened, it was the heyday of downtown theaters. Before the development of huge multiplex theaters on the outskirts of towns, the downtown theater was a mainstay of local entertainment and social life. However, with increased developments along the periphery of towns, the one screen theaters had a hard time competing with much larger theaters that were located outside of town, but had more parking. Over the years, the Prospect Theater was surpassed by these larger theaters and was not maintained. The distinctive marquee and awning were taken down when Route 83 was widened and by the time it was demolished the theater did not look like a center for local community life.