$1-Mil Gift Sparks Uptown Theatre Effort

CHICAGO, IL-A North Side movie house, vacant for 20 years, may be on the way to being reborn following a $1-million gift to the Uptown Theatre and Center for the Arts. The group hopes to raise up to $20 million to renovate the 4,381-seat theater near Lawrence Avenue and Broadway in the heart of the Uptown community.

The gift came from Albert I. and Maria Goodman on behalf of the Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation. Edith-Marie Appleton was Goodman’s mother. The gift is also intended as a gesture in memory of employees of Appleton Electric who served during World War II.

The Uptown country’s largest freestanding theater building in terms of square footage.

“As the centerpiece for the revitalization of the Uptown neighborhood and the Uptown entertainment district, it is imperative that the Uptown Theatre be returned to the prominence it once held,” says Michael J. Morrison, chairman, president and CEO of the (501(c)3) corporation.