Orpheum Theatre

720 Wabash Avenue,
Terre Haute, IN 47807

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Alliance Theater Corp.

Architects: M.H. Johnson Jr.

Firms: Johnson, Miller & Miller

Previous Names: Lyric Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Orpheum Theatre

The Lyric Theatre opened in 1905. It was later renamed Orpheum Theatre and in 1914, the owner of the Orpheum Theatre, Elroy B. Smith was murdered in the theatre by his estranged lover. This Orpheum Theatre was demolished.

A new Orpheum Theatre was built on the site, opening in 1919. The Orpheum Theatre presented movies. It was equipped with a Kimball pipe organ.

By 1941, the Orpheum Theatre had been taken over by Alliance Theater Corp. who were still operating it until 1949. It was then remodeled by a new operator and was still open in 1957.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 16, 2010 at 4:46 am

A history of Indiana published in 1922 contains a brief biography of Terre Haute architect M. H. Johnson, Jr., and the Orpheum Theatre is included in a list of buildings designed by him and his firm, Johnson, Miller & Miller.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 27, 2013 at 1:37 pm

DavidAE’s links to photos of the Orpheum:

Roof

1914

1927

1935

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 27, 2013 at 3:46 pm

David: Cinema Treasures supports Markdown, a simplified substitute for HTML code. If you want to use inline links all you need are square brackets and parentheses. It is described in the LINKS section of this page.

DavidAE
DavidAE on December 27, 2013 at 6:58 pm

Joe Vogel, Thank You, I cleaned things up. There were almost 3000 photos from Martin Photography pre 1950. The Indiana Historical has many more, but there is a 50 year delay of publication attached to the photos.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 13, 2019 at 12:53 am

A July 4, 1999 article by Mike McCormick in the Terre Haute Tribune Star says that there were two theaters on this site. The original Lyric was renamed the Orpheum at some point, but was demolished to make way for a new Orpheum in 1919. Other sources indicate that the Lyric opened in 1905.

On September 6, 1959, the Terre Haute Tribune reported that the Orpheum Theatre was under new management and would soon be remodeled.

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