Opulent 1921 vaudeville and cinema palace in Champaign, on the National Register of Historic Places — and said to host a ghostly child on its stairs
203 West Park Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticketed events vary by programming; check website for current shows and pricing. Some free community events held.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown historic theater with standard ADA accommodations; contact venue for specific accessibility needs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1921 · Designed by C. Howard Crane, opened December 28, 1921 · 1,463-seat combined vaudeville and cinema palace · National Register of Historic Places (2003) · Home of Ebertfest — Roger Ebert Film Festival
The Virginia Theatre opened on December 28, 1921, in downtown Champaign, Illinois. The commission went to C. Howard Crane, a Detroit-based architect who designed dozens of movie palaces across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic during the 1910s and 1920s. Crane's design for the Virginia seated 1,463 patrons in a single main floor and balcony arrangement typical of the era's combination houses — venues that served both live vaudeville acts and projected motion pictures.
The theater's interior featured the ornate decorative plasterwork, chandeliers, and proscenium detailing that defined the movie-palace era. The projection booth, balcony area, and backstage spaces survived later-century remodels largely intact. The Virginia operated through the mid-twentieth century as a first-run cinema.
By the latter decades of the century, the theater faced the same pressures confronting downtown movie houses nationwide — competition from suburban multiplexes and declining attendance. Preservation efforts kept the building standing and operational. In 2003, the Virginia Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing its architectural significance as a surviving example of C. Howard Crane's work and of the 1920s picture-palace form.
The theater is today operated as a performing arts venue. It hosts the Roger Ebert Film Festival (Ebertfest) each spring — a connection established because the late film critic Roger Ebert grew up in Champaign-Urbana and maintained a deep affection for the Virginia. Concerts, live performances, and film screenings round out the calendar.
Sources
The Virginia Theatre's haunting tradition involves two recurring figures. A child's apparition has been reported running on the theater's staircase — seen by multiple witnesses over the years and described consistently as a small figure moving at speed before vanishing. A second figure, appearing as a woman, has been seen in the balcony area during events and after hours.
The woman in the balcony has been identified in local lore as Julia Remmington, a figure associated with the theater's earlier decades of ownership. The identification appears in aggregator folklore sources but specific historical documentation of Remmington's role at the theater has not been independently confirmed in primary records. The account is presented here as community tradition.
A third category of reported activity involves the projection booth — unexplained incidents that staff describe as 'pranks,' including equipment shifts and sounds in an otherwise empty space. The combination of a child on the stairs, a woman in the balcony, and booth activity gives the theater's paranormal reputation a spatial specificity unusual in venue ghost stories.
Notable Entities
The Virginia hosts a range of concerts, film screenings, and live events in its restored 1,463-seat auditorium. The theater's ornate interior — including the balcony and original projection booth — is accessible during ticketed events. The Roger Ebert Film Festival (Ebertfest) is held here annually.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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