Copyright © 2019 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1913, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “A new set for the Hippodrome, city.” Moses was referring to a cityscape setting for Chicago’s Great Northern Hippodrome Theatre. Later that year he added, “I did a drop curtain for the Great Northern Theatre. A very delicate Italian Landscape.” For such a popular space to see live entertainment, little is known of the actual venue.
Here is all that I could track down:
The Great Northern Hippodrome was located in a massive high-rise building at 26 West Jackson, between State and Dearborn Streets. The Great Northern Office and Theatre Company building was designed by D. H. Burnham and Co. in 1896 and adjoined an earlier Great Northern hotel building. Burnham & Root designed the Great Northern Hotel before John W. Root’s passing.
Opening on Nov. 9, 1896, Great Northern Theatre productions included legitimate theatre, vaudeville, movies, and stock company productions. During February 1910, the Schuberts took over the building, redecorating the theater and renaming it the Lyric Theatre. The theater was again renamed, becoming the Great Northern Hippodrome.
The new theater offered a variety of continuous performances from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily. Advertisements promised, “All that’s great in circus, vaudeville, hippodrome, and novelty features” (Chicago Tribune, 23 May 1913, page 10).
When Sosman & Landis delivered scenery to the Great Northern Hippodrome in 1913, it was part of a program change, the venue now focused on live entertainment. On July 27, 1913, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “The Great Northern Hippodrome, having discontinued motion pictures, is now offering fourteen acts of vaudeville divided into two bills of seven acts” (page 14). Moses’ drop city setting and drop curtain were part of this makeover.
Like many historic venues of the time, the Great Northern Office and Theatre Building were demolished, in 1961 to make room for the Dirksen Federal Building.
To be continued…
