Wayne Theatre
1014 S. Calhoun Street,
Fort Wayne,
IN
46802
1014 S. Calhoun Street,
Fort Wayne,
IN
46802
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A book about Fort Wayne published by the Fort Wayne News in 1913 attributes the design of the Lyric Theatre to one of the town’s leading architects of the period, John M. E. Riedel. He also designed the Empress Theatre.
The Lyric was built in 1908, according to a history of Fort Wayne published in 1917. Originally a vaudeville house, it had been converted to a movie theater by the time the book was written.
From the early 1900s a postcard view of the Lyric Theatre before it became the Wayne.
Should say posted by Billy Smith, Don lewis & Billy h.
The Wayne theater at 1014 South Calhoun was opened in 1941 by Maller Theater Circuit.
It was first opened about 1908 as the Lyric, however Mallers bought
the theater, and promptly changed its name to the Riley.
They decided to again change its name, this time to the Wayne, which was very popular during it hey-day.
A Bennett theater organ opus 811 size 2/14 was installed in the Lyric Theater in 1914. Note: Tubular Pneaumatic Action.
This is a photo of the Wayne Theater dated 1951.
That link is long gone. The theaters in Fort Wayne on 11/5/22 were the Lyric, Jefferson, Orpheum, Strand, Palace, Hippodrome, Creighton, Transfer and Grand.
Here is a 1922 ad for the Lyric:
http://tinyurl.com/y36ovv
Address: 1014 S. Calhoun
The Wayne can be seen in this circa 1958 photograph. Notice the marquee: a double feature of the Bridgette Bardot film “The Night Heaven Fell” plus “Wayward Girl”.