State Theatre
621 E. Main Street,
Richmond,
IN
47374
621 E. Main Street,
Richmond,
IN
47374
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 7 comments
The State Theater had its Grand Opening on May 10th, 1941 (not May 18th).
The theater closed on January 18th, 1972. The final movie that was shown was The Organization with Sidney Poitier.
It was demolished in April 1972.
The day of the explosion, the movie showing was Elvis' ‘Stay Away Joe’. Damage included lots of plaster from the ceiling, and a large crack in the western wall. There don’t seem to have been any deaths there, but the attendees of the children’s matinee poured out into a street full of bricks and broken glass. Everything to the west of the theater was either obliterated by the explosion or destroyed by the fire which followed. The theater was saved by the fire department, but if it wasn’t condemned then, was gone by about 1972 when several blocks of Main became one of those awful pedestrian mall urban renewalists loved so much.
To be fair to Richmond, this theater was badly damaged in a huge gas explosion that took place under a sporting goods store located on the corner to the west. The gas explosion was followed by the gunpowder stored in the basement of Marting Arms. The local gas company had been grossly negligent, as had the sporting goods store, and 41 people died. 21 buildings near the site were condemned, including probably the theater. This took place April 6, 1968.
Address was 621 E Main. Little storefronts were 619 and 623. The theater and everything west of it were destroyed for an ugly monstrosity of a department store, probably sometime in the ‘70s.
State theatre opening
Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Found on Newspapers.com powered by Newspapers.com
With regard to the message board quotes posted by Lost Memory above, the Indiana Theatre, built in 1909 as the Murray Theatre, survives as a live theater venue, serving as the main stage of the Richmond Civic Theatre (unfortunately that web site has nothing about the theater itself, but this one does.) The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Murray Theatre. Its architect, Fred W. Elliott, also designed the Ceramic Theatre (demolished, alas) at East Liverpool, Ohio. He also designed a theater at Elyria, Ohio, the details of which I’ve not been able to track down yet.
Several of Richmond’s historic theaters are pictured in this weblog post by Richmond real estate broker Dan Tate. There is one photo showing the State. As I noted above, it was designed by Erwin G. Fredrick.
Richmond’s new State Theatre was featured in an article in the September 13, 1941, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The 1000 seat house (700 seats on the main floor and 300 in the balcony) was designed in the Art Moderne style by Chicago architect Erwin G. Fredrick.