Broadway Theatre

227 Broadway,
Logansport, IN 46947

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Dolan Opera House, Dowling Opera House, Dowling Theatre

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Broadway Theatre, Logansport, IN

The Dolan Opera House was built around 1873. When motion pictures started being shown here, the Dolan Opera House was re-named the Broadway Theatre. The Broadway Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1924.

Contributed by Ridgewood Ken

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

cc44
cc44 on December 29, 2013 at 12:40 am

The Broadway Theatre was flooded in the flood of 1913.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 29, 2013 at 10:12 am

I’ve found this theater listed as the Dolan Opera House as late as 1900. In 1902, it appears in trade publications as the Dowling Opera House, and it is advertised as Dowling’s Theatre in the 1905-1906 Cahn guide.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 29, 2013 at 12:34 pm

Early theater names I’ve found connected with Logansport include the Colonial, Nelson, Logan, Grand, Ark, Luna, and Crystal. The Nelson was a big theater, about the size of the Broadway, but newer, and was the town’s leading playhouse after the old opera house became the Broadway. The Ark was running vaudeville around 1911, and the Crystal was a movie house operating about the same time. They might be two of the four unknowns on the maps. The Ark was operating at least as late as 1924, when it was being run as a movie house by J. E. Dowling.

The fire that destroyed the Broadway took place in 1924, not 1926. It was reported in the February 23 issue of Exhibitors Herald, which featured a photo of the smoldering ruins.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 29, 2013 at 1:50 pm

I’ve now found a Broadway Theatre operating at Logansport as early as 1908, mentioned in the December 10 issue of The Billboard. Either there was an earlier house called the Broadway Theatre, or the name of the opera house was changed sooner than was thought. If it was the same theater, the name change must have been quite recent as Dowling Opera House is still listed in Julius Cahn’s ad for his affiliated theaters in the December 5 issue, and I haven’t found the Broadway mentioned before December.

The Crystal is also mentioned in 1908, playing vaudeville. The Ark Theatre is mentioned in the November 21 issue.

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