Orpheum Theatre
21 W. 8th Avenue,
Gary,
IN
46402
21 W. 8th Avenue,
Gary,
IN
46402
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Indiana-Illinois Theaters, Paramount-Publix, Young Amusement Co.
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Located at the corner of Washington Street and 8th Avenue. The Orpheum Theatre was opened in 1910 by the Young Amusement Company chain, with vaudeville & movies. It was never equipped for ‘talkies’. On June 2, 1929 it was taken over by Paramount Publix and closed as a silent movie theatre in 1930. It became an indoor mini golf course. It was demolished in 1933 and the site became a filling station. Today the site is an empty plot.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The ornate 1000-seat Orpheum Theater near 8th and Washington hosted both vaudeville and moving pictures. It was built in 1910 by theater pioneers V.U. Young and C.J Wolf, who would go on to own several inter-related companies that in turn owned and/or operated theaters, several of which were in Gary. In January 1927 the Orpheum was one of six Gary theaters to join the Illinois and Indiana Theaters booking circuit, formerly Earl Johnson Theaters. In June 1929 Indiana-Ohio Theaters Corp., a new Paramount-Publix subsidiary, acquired control of the Orpheum and nine other Young-Wolf theaters. Never wired for sound, the Orpheum closed in 1930. It was leased to Indoor Golf Courses of America and converted to a “midget golf course” in September 1930.
The theater was located at the southeast corner of Eighth and Washington. The stage abutted Washington Street. The public entrance was at 21 W. 8th Avenue.
On April 7, 1936, V.U. Young, now president of three-year-old Theatrical Managers, Inc., announced plans to build a $160,000 1200-seat movie house on the Orpheum site, which had been used as a filling station since the Orpheum was torn down in 1933. The theater was never built. A local rival would soon break ground for the State Theatre, built one block north of the old Orpheum. That showplace opened on October 1, 1937.
Young Amusement Company operated the Orpheum until June 2, 1929. On that date Paramount-Publix acquired control of Young Amusement’s ten theaters through its new Indiana-Ohio Theaters Corp.