The Lincolndale Theater was damaged after it had closed due primarily to the death of the owner who was remembered as a good man. I guess I am a bit of a rarity now, because I actually went to the Lincolndale before it closed in Fort Wayne, The Peru when it was still located South of Peru, and the Lincolndale while I was in college near Warsaw.
The Miami Open Air was located Northeast of Peru at 864 North Broadway. It had a capacity of 500 cars, a playground, separate concession stand, dual speaker audio poles, and beveled parking for better views. It had a slightly larger and wider screen than the Peru Drive In had, and was last painted in a teal paint scheme. The theater had literally faded from glory as lighting from the city of Peru made the area too bright for the outdoor movies. New pictures of the Old Peru Drive in are now available on the Peru Drive in page. We are still trying to obtain photos of the old Miami Drive in, and the old Indian Head neon work.
Actually there were two different drive in theaters. The Miami, and the Peru. The Peru which was the smaller of the two held 450 cars and had pole mounted mono speakers that could be hung on the driver side door for audio. The Miami had spaces for up to 500 cars, a playground, and two speaker per pole audio. The car to the left would hang their speaker on the passenger side window, car to the right on the driver’s side window. The Miami was Northeast of Peru, The Peru was to the South of the city, on Business 31. The Miami in it’s last few years had a teal colored paint scheme, the Peru more of a beige. The Peru was damaged by a storm before it finally closed. The Peru was dismantled and moved to Warsaw where much of the old equipment continued to serve at the Lincolndale Outdoor Cinema until it closed after the death of it’s owner.
We are still attempting to locate high quality images of the old Roxy Theatre interior and exterior. The Roxy unlike the other theatres in Peru actually comprised of three linked buildings. Our studio artists were able to generate a rendering believed to be relatively accurate of the old theatre based on low quality images we were able to obtain from films taken in the 1960’s.
We were really honored to find this rare promo-image of the Old Wallace Theatre dated 1959. The image was in a collection we obtained but was badly deteriorated, with portions of the image either missing or stained. The restoration of the image is as historically correct as we could make it. The films shown on the marquee were selected from the 1959 film list (We could not tell what the original sign had posted.) But architecturally the image is accurate. It definitely shows how beautiful a treasure was lost.
It took quite a bit of research but we have confirmed that Mr. Barrett was correct about the Smith Organ, which appears to have been relocated to a church after the theatre closed its doors a final time in 1954. The old news image of the Ritz circa 1934 confirms the location was the Broadway address and was at least in part the building where Kruetzer’s was located. However the building was rebuilt in 1954 and gained a very different facia than it’s old movie days. As for the “Loomis” fan found in the attic storage area of the old GC Murphy’s store if finally makes sense. Based on the photo, and architectural clews, the end building incorporated into the GM Murphy’s was once linked to the theatre and served as storage. Sadly now the Old GC Murphy’s location appears from recent images on Google to be a desperate disrepair.. and in need of restoration. Our hope is that someone will wake up and take on the project before it is too late to do so. The old Wallace Grand Staircase and other clues of the era of the Ritz still exist in the upper floors of the old building that has housed everything from a clothing store to a dime store, to a pizza parlor. it would be sad to lose that too. As for the actual theatre, the side walls, and back wall still stand and much of the upper front remains the same as it did when the Ritz was alive and well.
The Lincolndale Theater was damaged after it had closed due primarily to the death of the owner who was remembered as a good man. I guess I am a bit of a rarity now, because I actually went to the Lincolndale before it closed in Fort Wayne, The Peru when it was still located South of Peru, and the Lincolndale while I was in college near Warsaw.
The Miami Open Air was located Northeast of Peru at 864 North Broadway. It had a capacity of 500 cars, a playground, separate concession stand, dual speaker audio poles, and beveled parking for better views. It had a slightly larger and wider screen than the Peru Drive In had, and was last painted in a teal paint scheme. The theater had literally faded from glory as lighting from the city of Peru made the area too bright for the outdoor movies. New pictures of the Old Peru Drive in are now available on the Peru Drive in page. We are still trying to obtain photos of the old Miami Drive in, and the old Indian Head neon work.
Actually there were two different drive in theaters. The Miami, and the Peru. The Peru which was the smaller of the two held 450 cars and had pole mounted mono speakers that could be hung on the driver side door for audio. The Miami had spaces for up to 500 cars, a playground, and two speaker per pole audio. The car to the left would hang their speaker on the passenger side window, car to the right on the driver’s side window. The Miami was Northeast of Peru, The Peru was to the South of the city, on Business 31. The Miami in it’s last few years had a teal colored paint scheme, the Peru more of a beige. The Peru was damaged by a storm before it finally closed. The Peru was dismantled and moved to Warsaw where much of the old equipment continued to serve at the Lincolndale Outdoor Cinema until it closed after the death of it’s owner.
We have uploaded two more photos of the old Roxy Theater. Sadly we still have not been able to locate any interior photos. We are still searching.
We are still attempting to locate high quality images of the old Roxy Theatre interior and exterior. The Roxy unlike the other theatres in Peru actually comprised of three linked buildings. Our studio artists were able to generate a rendering believed to be relatively accurate of the old theatre based on low quality images we were able to obtain from films taken in the 1960’s.
We were really honored to find this rare promo-image of the Old Wallace Theatre dated 1959. The image was in a collection we obtained but was badly deteriorated, with portions of the image either missing or stained. The restoration of the image is as historically correct as we could make it. The films shown on the marquee were selected from the 1959 film list (We could not tell what the original sign had posted.) But architecturally the image is accurate. It definitely shows how beautiful a treasure was lost.
It took quite a bit of research but we have confirmed that Mr. Barrett was correct about the Smith Organ, which appears to have been relocated to a church after the theatre closed its doors a final time in 1954. The old news image of the Ritz circa 1934 confirms the location was the Broadway address and was at least in part the building where Kruetzer’s was located. However the building was rebuilt in 1954 and gained a very different facia than it’s old movie days. As for the “Loomis” fan found in the attic storage area of the old GC Murphy’s store if finally makes sense. Based on the photo, and architectural clews, the end building incorporated into the GM Murphy’s was once linked to the theatre and served as storage. Sadly now the Old GC Murphy’s location appears from recent images on Google to be a desperate disrepair.. and in need of restoration. Our hope is that someone will wake up and take on the project before it is too late to do so. The old Wallace Grand Staircase and other clues of the era of the Ritz still exist in the upper floors of the old building that has housed everything from a clothing store to a dime store, to a pizza parlor. it would be sad to lose that too. As for the actual theatre, the side walls, and back wall still stand and much of the upper front remains the same as it did when the Ritz was alive and well.