Hoosier Theatre
1335 119th Street,
Whiting,
IN
46394
1335 119th Street,
Whiting,
IN
46394
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A couple photos of the Hoosier Theatre.
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The Hoosier Theatre is playing first run attractions.
This is a 2009 photo.
Here are some 1982 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Photo3
More photos can be seen here.
This is a 2008 photo.
Another recent photo of the Hoosier Theater can be seen here.
Here is the website for the Hoosier Theater.
This is a 2007 photo of the Hoosier Theater.
Added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1987
Hoosier Theater Building (added 1987 – Building – #87000069)
1329—1335 One Hundred-nineteenth St., Whiting
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Unknown
Architectural Style: No Style Listed
Area of Significance: Architecture, Performing Arts
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic, Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Multiple Dwelling, Theater
Current Function: Domestic, Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Multiple Dwelling, Theater
The Hoosier closed in December 1959 for an unspecified period. An article in the Hammond Times, excerpted here, mentions three other Whiting theaters, the Star, Princess and Capitol.
Top Stars Showed Youthful Wares In Hoosier Theater
Oil City Once Had 4 Showhouses
Closing of Whiting’s Hoosier theater, the city’s only remaining theater and an entertainment center in the Oil City for the last 35 yearsâ€"because there just wasn’t enough revenueâ€"opens the door to a past, brilliant with its glitter of stars, both in the vaudeville and movie worlds.
Although of late movies played to more empty seats than filled ones at the Hoosier, former stage manager William Schulte recalls the days when people lined up outside waiting to get in to see such hits of the past as “Birth of a Nation”, “What Price Glory” and others.
When the Hoosier theater opened its doors in 1924 it was under the ownership of Jack and Margaret Bennett, who prior to construction of the Hoosier had operated the Princess theater near the new show place. In 1929 the Hoosier was taken over by Warner Brothers, with Mrs. Bennett and a new partner, Roy Green, Whiting attorney, as operators.
Passing of the Hoosier theater temporarily or permanently, brings to a close a Whiting theater era that had its start shortly after the coming of Standard Oil Co. refinery to the town in 1889. The Star theater on 119th Street near New York Avenue was recognized as the first “modern” movie house in Whiting, although there had been one earlier place that catered to the public in the early history of movies. Opening of the Princess theater, also on 119th street, near Sheridan Avenue, and west of the Star, gave the Oil City two theaters.
For a short time Whiting was a town with four theaters. The town enjoyed this distinction when the Capitol theater, on 119th Street near LaPorte Avenue, opened its doors, Hoosier came into existence about a year laterâ€"and the Star and Princess theaters were still operated by the owners of the new Capitol and Hoosier theatersâ€"A. J. Obresk and Margaret Bennett, respectively. Both Obresk and Mrs. Bennett are now dead.
Here is a recent photo of the Hoosier Theater.
Here is a most illuminating link describing the long history of the Hoosier:
http://tinyurl.com/s7q8y
The last two photos on this website are the Hoosier theater in Whiting.
A Kimball organ Opus KPO 6749 Size 3/7 was installed in the Hoosier Theater in 1924.
I have a few exterior pics of this gem.