TERRE HAUTE —
During March and April of 1927 – about 85 years ago – the owners of interests in four major downtown Terre Haute theaters were negotiating to transfer their interests to representatives of Paramount Studios.
The theaters involved were the American, 817-819 Wabash Ave.; Hippodrome, 721-735 Ohio St.; Indiana, 683 Ohio St.; and the Liberty, 729 Wabash Ave.
Wabash Theatres Corp., incorporated with $150,000 of paid-in capital, already owned the Hippodrome, which opened in 1915 at the southwest corner of Eighth and Ohio streets. Its seating capacity was reported to be 1,410.
The initial stockholders were Homer Anderson, Harry J. Baker, Theodore W. Barhydt, Joseph A. Conrad, Rutherford N. Filbeck, Fred G. Heinl, E. W. Kemp, Paul Kuhn, John McFall, Joseph P. McKibben, Herman Mayer, Williuam Myers, Joseph Otten, William S. Rea, Ewald E. Reiman, Ray Riekemper and George Schaal.
In 1924, Wabash Theatres Corp. leased the Indiana Theatre, with a suggested seating capacity of 2,000, for 30 years from the corporation headed by Barhydt that built the magnificent entertainment palace in 1921-22.
The Liberty Theater, built in 1919 with a seating capacity of 1,220, was owned by McFall. In 1924, it was leased by Wabash Theatres Corp. for 50 years.
The oldest theater in the group was the American, built in 1914. It seated 990 patrons. The building and grounds were owned by Sigmund Uffenheimer, who also owned one-third of the Terre Haute Amusement Co., the operating company of the theater, with insurance agent Charles Fox.
Two-thirds of the American Theatre’s operating company was owned by the bidders, Charles Reagan, Indianapolis district manager of Paramount Studios, and D.A. Ross, Paramount’s Chicago district manager.
Complete details of the proposed transaction were not revealed, but it was reported that the bidders offered Wabash Theatres Corp. $200,000 to assume the existing leases of the Indiana, Liberty and Hippodrome theaters.
The bidders offered to purchase or lease the American Theater.
There were several downtown theaters operating in 1927 besides the four listed above. Though the Crescent and Orpheum theaters had closed, the Princess (669 Wabash), Fountain (422 Wabash), Savoy (323 Wabash) and Grand Opera House (29 N. Seventh St.) were still thriving downtown.
The Lyceum (1235 Wabash), Alhambra (1172 Locust St.), Rex (838 N. Sixth St.), Swan (1220 Lafayette Ave.) and the National Theatre on National Ave. in West Terre Haute were considered neighborhood theaters.
The Grand Opera House was taken over by Fourth Avenue Amusement Co. of Louisville on April 2, 1927.
Shannon P. Katzenbach, who served as manager during the entire time that the opera house was owned by Crawford Fairbanks and his estate, was retained.
Engineers from Vitaphone Co. spent a week in Terrre Haute, studying the size of the Grand Opera House building, the height of its stage, the dimensions of the auditorium and balconies, the type of seats and other details.
Vitaphone was a popular new sound film system introduced by Warner Bros. in August 1926. The soundtrack was not printed on the film but issued on phonograph records.
Johnson, Miller, Miller & Yeager, Terre Haute architects, submitted plans and specifications for a new gymnasium in the 300 block on N. Seventh St. to Indiana State Normal School administrators and its board of trustees.
The proposed cost of the new facility was $150,000.
On Friday, March 25, 1927, Rose Polytechnic Institute’s proposed new radio station offered a test program in anticipation of securing a license in a few weeks.
Harry T. Musick, considered one of Terre Haute’s leading radio experts, and Carl Jones, director of the Harmony Four quartet, manned the microphones.
Carl Stahl of Stall-Urban Co., a sponsor of the college radio station, was in Washington, D.C., seeking permission to go on the air permanently. Stall was armed with letters of introduction to many dignitaries, including J. Everett Sanders of Terre Haute, President Calvin Coolidge’s private secretary.
Stall arranged with Thomas E. Callen, manager of the Hotel Deming, to place the studio in the Hoosier Nook on the hotel’s second floor. It was a large room, capable of accommodating large groups and entertainers. The acoustics were excellent.
The station did not yet have call letters in March, but when the station officially went on the air June 15, 1927, the Federal Radio Commission approved “WRPI.”
WRPI was the second radio station to operate in Terre Haute. WEAC, licensed May 25, 1922, to Camille C. Baines, a Terre Haute High School and Rose Poly graduate, was the first. WEAC ceased broadcasting in August 1922.
At least 10 downtown Terre Haute businesses constructed new storefronts during the first five months of 1927.
The front of the Carl Wolf store at 631 Wabash Ave. was completely replaced. Spritz Jewelry at 618 Wabash was totally remodeled. Federal Bakery opened a new store at 679 Wabash, replacing the front of the existing structure and rearranging the interior.
Philip Silver gutted his clothing store at 636 Wabash, transforming it into one of the most attractive commercial rooms in the city. Dorel Beal of the Bon Ton Pastry Shop and Eugene Feibelman of Feibelman’s department store each rebuilt their adjoining retail stores at 666 and 668 Wabash Ave. to suit their respective purposes.
Silverstein Brothers made improvements to the display windows at 526-528 Wabash. Root’s at 615-621 Wabash added a new storeroom, totally changing its appearance. Louis Phillips revamped Mammoth Shoe Co. at 517 Wabash Ave. and J.G. McCrory’s, a national chain, leased vacant storefronts at 647, 649 and 651 Wabash for a new store.
History
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Downtown changes featured in early 1927
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