Hartford Theater
118 E. Washington Street,
Hartford City,
IN
47348
118 E. Washington Street,
Hartford City,
IN
47348
1 person
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The Hartford Theater opened in 1949. The building is currently used as an alcohol and drug addiction center.
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Lost Memory
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From the photo of the former Hartford Theatre, the building is recognizable as the house designed by architect Erwin G. Fredrick for Frank Walters and M.H. Scheidler, operators of the Orpheum and Jefferson theaters in Hartford City.
Mr. Fredrick’s rendering of the proposed theater was displayed in the “Just Off the Boards” feature of Boxoffice, August 17, 1946.
Here is an updated link to architect Erwin G. Fredrick’s rendering of the new theater for Hartford in Boxoffice of August 17, 1946.
The Hartford Theater was a rebuild of a long-closed Dawn Theater. It was magnificent! Althought it was clearly a movie theater, there was a stage and in the early years there were live presentations of various types. One was Jay Zee, a hypnotist.
From the November 28, 1946 Film Daily: “INDIANA
“Hartford—Frank Walters and M. H. Scheidler have started work on their new 1,000 seat house, to be named the Hartford. Facade will be of granite and the house will be air conditioned. The pair own the Orpheum and Jefferson theaters, in Wabash, and the Main in Dunkirk.”
The house was still in the planning stage in 1948, when the project was mentioned again in the April 2 issue of FD. The Harford first appears in the 1950 FDY (when it was listed with 916 seats,) so it might not have opened until 1949. Mr. Scheidler was mentioned as the manager of the Hartford in the July 9, 1949 Boxoffice, so it was open by then.
The reference to Wabash in the 1946 item was a mistake, as houses called the Jefferson and Orpheum were listed at Hartford City in the 1947 FDY, and were still listed in 1950. Houses listed at Wabash in 1947 were the Colonial and the Eagles.
The Hartford’s predecessor, the 250-seat Dawn Theatre, was in operation by 1929, and was listed as closed in the 1938 FDY.