Avenue Theatre

Indianapolis had three Indiana Theatres. The most enduring is found downtown in its six-story facility still in use on W. Washington Street in the 21st Century. The other two were found in the Indiana Avenue business district both designed for African American patronage. (The first Indiana Theatre has its own page on Cinema Treasures as does the third (and current) Indiana Theatre on W. Washington Street)

In 1925, the Indiana Theater moniker returned to the City of Indianapolis here at 412 Indiana Avenue catering to African American patrons. It was the second Indian Theatre and was run by James D. Hill and Louis G Hill of Hill Brothers Co. The brothers operated the Columbia, Douglas, and Senate theaters, all of which catered to African American audiences The theater is referred to as Hill’s Indiana Theater when the new downtown Indiana Theater on W. Washington Street opened two years later.

The Indiana Theatre converted to sound to remain viable. The Hills sold the venue to a reformed Walker Amusement Company Circuit more or less taking the theater full circle to its origins across the street. Walker relaunched it after a streamline modern refresh as the Avenue Theater on October 26, 1947 now seating 600 with Sabu in “The Thief of Bagdad” supported by Ralph Byrd in “Dick Tracy’s Dilemma.”

Walker walked away from the Avenue despite showing “The Greatest Show on Earth” on October 10, 1952 likely completing a leasing agreement. The article on the Avenue’s closing noted that the majority of downtown theaters had barred persons of color until 1952 in Indianapolis; but many changed that policy as television was decimating large downtown theater’s patronages. The downturn on attendance was quite pronounced at the Avenue according to the local newspaper.

The Avenue became a live event house that could be rented by the day hosting many events. In 1954, it is renamed as the Golden Auditorium booking some mid-level live orchestras of the days. It reverts to the Avenue Theater becoming a house of worship for the Pentecostal Baptist Church on weekends and the Indiana Avenue Record Shop by day.

In 1960, the Indiana Recorder newspaper took over the venue in a conversion. The African American business district around Indiana Avenue and Illinois Street was then decimated by the City of Indianapolis' urban renewal plan designed to displace - in this case - the successful Illinois Street businesses. The Avenue Theatre building got caught up in the project.

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