Palace Theatre
111 W. State Street,
Nokomis,
IL
62075
111 W. State Street,
Nokomis,
IL
62075
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The Palace is just barely visible on the left in this picture from the county historical society: http://history.montgomeryco.com/Archives/View-Photo-Archive/ID/1878
Assuming the address is correct, this must have been demolished. There is a parking lot between 109 and 113.
Andrew: The Seeburg-Smith was rebuilt in 1927 with new console and wind chests containing Wicks Direct-Electric action. All the old pipework was retained. Flute, Violin, Vox and Clarinet, as well as traps and percussion. Its noted that a new swell box was constructed and the organ was installed in the balcony. If you want a copy of the spec, email me:
Dear Mr. Joe Vogel, thank you for your great comment! I am a Smith and Geneva pipe organ enthusiast (I own two of them, or rather, the remains of two of them) and was wondering what happened to this organ. Details below. I certainly hope this organ was not thrown out and will contact the Trinity Lutheran Church of Nokomis as soon as possible.
The organ originally installed in the “New Palace Th.” (as per Mr. David Junchen’s “Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ”, volume 2, pg. 629, was a Seeburg – Smith, made in Chicago, Illinois. Unfortunately, Mr. Junchen did not have any additional information about this organ at the time of publication of his book, such as size (number of manuals/number of ranks), install date, or blower info.
However, he did note that the organ’s nameplate was “Seeburg – Smith” meaning that the organ would have been built and installed between 1916 and 1921.
If I ever find out any more about this organ I will post it here. Hope this helps! and 1921.
If I ever find out any more about this organ I will post it here. Hope this helps!
A timeline of events at Trinity Lutheran Church in Nokomis on this web page says that the church bought the pipe organ from the Palace Theatre for $250.00 in 1931. The organ was rebuilt to make it suitable for church services, but no details about it are given. A new organ was installed in 1971. The subsequent fate of the old organ is not revealed.
Open prior to 1925 and was still in operation into the 1950’s.