Palace Theater

Joe Vogel on February 8, 2013 at 5:33 pm

A 1917 volume called The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne Indiana, by Joseph Griswold, has a paragraph about the Palace Theatre as part of a brief biography of Frank E. Stouder:

“1913 Mr. Stouder organized what is now the Palace Theater Company and instituted the erection of this theater, which was formally opened to the public on January 25, 1915, and it has gained recognition as one of the most modern and attractive theaters in the middle west. It is conceded to be the finest house devoted to vaudeville entertainment in the entire state of Indiana, and the building was erected and equipped at a cost of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. It is of thoroughly fireproof construction, has a seating capacity of two thousand, has the most approved appointments for lighting, heating and ventilating and the general equipment of the stage and general auditorium is of thoroughly metropolitan order, the house having been designed by C. W. and G. L. Rapp, the celebrated theater architects, of Chicago. In presenting the attractions of the unrivaled Keith vaudeville circuit this beautiful house has not been denied the full measure of popular approval and support, and it has added much to the metropolitan prestige of Fort Wayne.”

In partnership with Byron H. Barnett, Frank Stouder had earlier operated two other Fort Wayne houses; the Temple Theatre, beginning in 1894, and the Lyric Theatre, beginning in 1910. Stouder and Barnett disposed of their interests in both houses in 1915, to concentrate on operating the Palace.

lostmemory on September 6, 2007 at 7:46 pm

A Moller theater organ opus 3389 size 3/18 was installed in the Palace Theater in 1922.

PaulWolter on April 15, 2007 at 5:03 pm

I think this was designed by Rapp & Rapp. The facade is remarkably similar to the facade of the Orpheum Theatre in Champaign, Illinois which was built in 1914. The Chicago Historical Society references a Rapp & Rapp design in 1914 for a theatre in Fort Wayne for Stouder and Barnett.