Oriental Theater
1105 S. Meridian Street,
Indianapolis,
IN
46225
1105 S. Meridian Street,
Indianapolis,
IN
46225
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The Oriental Theater opened in 1910 with a setaing capacity of 1,300. It was located on South Meridian Street, just north of West Morris Street. The theater was owned and operated most of its life by the O'Connell family. The theater featured an organ manufactured by the Louisville Pipe Organ Co. The Oriental Theater closed in 1958.
Contributed by
Chuck
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The Oriental Theatre did not have a Marr & Colton organ. It had an organ built by the Louisville Pipe Organ Company. The organ was Opus 512 built in 1926. The organ consists of 5 ranks (sets) of pipes. It has:
Tibia Clausa 97 Note
Diapason 73 Note
Cello 73 Note
Oboe Horn 61 Note
Vox Humana 61 Note
It has 2 percussions:
Metal Harp 49 Note
Chimes 20 Note
Originally it had traps (drums etc.). All pipework speaks on 5" wind. The organ was removed from the theatre and reinstalled in Calvary Lutheran Church at 5560 Shelby Street, Indianapolis in 1942. In 1964 the church was sold and renamed Tallwood Chapel. Pastor Don Foley held their first service in Tallwood Chapel December 1964. Tallwood Chapel used the organ until it fell into disrepair and became unplayable in the 1970’s.
The organ was purchased in 2005 by David M. Finkel of Shelbyville Indiana for inclusion in the Louisville “Uniphone” organ destine for the Strand Theatre in Shelbyville. The organ was made playable. A final service and archival recording was made in April 2006.
The organ will remain in storage until rebuilt and installed as part of the organ in the Strand Theatre in Shelbyville, Indiana.
I did a Google Earth map search, and the address came up as an empty patch of land right next to an on/off ramp for Highway 70. I assume the theater was torn down to make way for it.
On January 13, 1935, the Oriental Theatre became headlines after the theater’s usher shot a man inside the theater lobby during the morning hours. The Oriental’s usher, 23-year-old Albert Hamilton of Indianapolis nearly-fatally shot 26-year-old Leonard William Ott with a .25-caliber automatic pistol at the theater lobby in a heated argument. The almost unexpected tragedy took three people, including its manager Roy Perry and cashier Margaret Clough. Hamilton told authorities that the shooting is an act of self-defense after Ott attacked him at the door leading to the lobby. Eads was already drinking a whisky bottle at the time of the incident, which at the time was against the riles of the theater. Eads was later charged with assault and battery, and Ott was placed under a vagrancy charge in the detention ward of the hospital.