Wrecking crews demolish 79-year-old movie house in Lombard
By James Fuller and Kathryn Grondin
Daily Herald Staff Writers
At 2:50 p.m. the DuPage Theatre looked like a sick a woman with no friends.
It was 10 minutes until a demolition crew was set to pull the plug on her 79 years of existence, and no one was there to see her off.
Fans worked frantically behind the scenes Thursday to get the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene or a circuit court to halt the process because of asbestos fears.
Both attempts failed.
“We had to exhaust all of our appeals,” said Deborah Dynako, president of the Friends of the DuPage Theatre. “We’ve done everything we possibly could’ve done.”
Lombard Village Manager William Lichter confirmed that asbestos fibers were embedded in the roof shingles, but he said they posed no health hazards as precautions would be taken.
At the site, an open door on the Parkside Avenue end of the theater cast little light into what seemed to be a lifeless building. Yet, the neon lights of the marquee hinted that a faint pulse remained.
Then they came. Most people came simply to gawk at the death of a once local giant. Others were there to either cheer or grieve. All told, about 75 people turned out to see the theater’s last breaths.
“It makes me sad,” said Paula Weisserth, a Lombard native. Weisserth had both her first date and her first kiss at the movie house.
“There’s not one person in this town who’s not connected to the theater,” she said. “It’s a shame they couldn’t find a solution.”
It wasn’t for lack of effort. The village negotiated for three years with a developer on a plan to save part of the theater.
As recently as February, a compromise to save the facade and part of the building won a recommendation from Lombard’s plan commission.
But some village trustees’ lingering concerns about the proposal outweighed the advisory panel’s recommendation. They rejected the plan in favor of demolition.
“It’s an elephant whose time has come and gone,” Trustee Richard Tross said. “We gave it chance after chance after chance.”
Those thoughts were echoed by frequent passers-by sounding their horns and shouting, “Yeah! Tear it down!” all afternoon.
Outgoing Trustee Steve Sebby took a front-row seat to watch something he’s waited a long time to see.
“It’s a sad day for Lombard, but it’s a good day for Lombard,” Sebby said. “The new trustees can start with a clean slate now. And really, what are we losing?”
By 3:45 p.m. the only piece of the remaining building to be saved was free. Construction crews loaded the ticket booth onto a truck to deliver to the Lombard Historical Society.
Then the massive metal claw came to life as water hoses doused the building.
At 4:35 p.m. the claw descended on the marquee, ripping the faded, red DuPage letters off and casting them to the ground. Some applauded. Others simply left in defeat.
By 5 p.m. the marquee was gone, and any life left in the building was extinguished as the claw tore off one of the spires on the facade.
Today the demolition crew will return to finish the job, but the DuPage Theatre is already gone.
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