Northwestern Theatre
2648 Northwestern Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46208
2648 Northwestern Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46208
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The Northwestern Theatre was located in the Indiana Avenue & Illinois Street district which was an African-American section of Indianapolis. It was listed in the 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory. This was listed as a “Negro” theater. When sound movies came along, it was initially unable to be equipped, but eventually sound equipment was installed. The Northwestern Theatre was closed in 1935 when its lease expired. It was demolished in the 1950’s due to urban improvements.
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Chuck
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The Northwestern Theatre was a largely silent theater that operated in the middle of the bustling Indiana Avenue and Illinois Street African American commercial districts. With the Walker Theatre and Indiana Theatres opening in the 1920s and less than a mile away, they were the first to convert to sound.
The Northwestern was initially unable to make the conversion closing in 1930. But if the local paper account is accurate, it was later able to convert to sound - likely getting a second-hand sound system that had been replaced by another theater - and able to continue to the expiry of its lease in 1935.
The fate of the Northwestern Theater Building was decided in the late 1950s when a plan was unveiled that would create an Interstate highway drawn up to run right through the business district. It was a playbook run in many other major cities with African American business districts. In Indianapolis, however, an alternate plan was suggested causing far less disruption to the area which housed the former Northwestern building and lots of commercial businesses and residential housing. That message was received and before it could gain traction, the entire area was quickly plowed under in the 1960s. This stretch of Northwestern Avenue would be changed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street up to 38th Street.