Columbia Theatre
12 Van Buren Street,
Columbia City,
IN
46725
12 Van Buren Street,
Columbia City,
IN
46725
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The Columbia Theatre was opened September 15, 1920 with Lewis Stone in “The Rivers End”. By 1950 it was operated by Affiliated Theaters Inc. of Indianapolis, IN. It was still open in 1963.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Whitley County’s dominant first-run theater started life when F.F. Morsches, A.E. Hancock, and James D. Adams formed their own theater company and opened the Columbia Theatre on September 15, 1920 with Lewis Stone in “The River’s End” (unknown if subjects were added), over the corner of Van Buren and Main with an estimate costing $100,000 in building. Columbia City had a couple of nickelodeons around the time. One of the custodians of the Columbia Theatre is Frank M. Hartman (May 26, 1878-February 4, 1964) of 113 West North Street of Columbia City who is also a former Baltimore & Ohio railroad employee. The Columbia Theatre was notable for Gail E. Lancaster, who was an organist at the Columbia and would later became a local theater chain owner in Huntington, Indiana. The original organ was given from the Grace Lutheran Church nearby. The first sound system the theater was given was Western Electric.
Shortly before the rise of the CinemaScope boom, the Columbia Theatre’s original 17x9w-14x6h screen was replaced by an Astrolite 32x6w-15x3h screen (with 123ft in size from the projection booth to the stage) shortly two days before the screening of Ava Gardner’s “Mogambo” and a Disney cartoon “Football Now and Then” on December 23, 1953. This didn’t last long. Approximately more than 9 months later, CinemaScope arrived at the Columbia, replacing the short-lived Astrolite screen.
After running a one-day showing of Jules Munshin’s “Monte Carlo Baby” with no extras, the first CinemaScope titles were released beginning with Robert Cummings' “Lucky Me” on October 5, 1954 (also with no subjects, and originally scheduled for October 3 but was shifted later for unknown reasons).
On November 1, 1957, the Columbia Theatre closed its doors for four months by owners Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hancock and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hancock. He said that the rise of television in Whitney County and the surrounding Fort Wayne area, especially Fort Wayne’s WKJG, WANE, and the “then-new” WPTA, may’ve caused the closure according to the owner. However speaking of Hancock, after a four month hiatus without even a single theater in Columbia City, the Columbia Theatre reopened by new owners John Hancock and Robert Walker on March 2, 1958 with John Hoyt’s “God Is My Partner” along with a short “Hero On Horseback” and an unnamed Mighty Mouse cartoon.
On September 16, 1963, after running the “exploitation-type” film “Beach Party”, the Columbia Theatre closed for two months and a week for unknown reasons, leaving the West 30 Drive-In which opened its gates two months prior being the only theater during the two month hiatus. The Columbia Theatre reopened its doors on November 23, 1963 with “The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze” as a Thanksgiving matinee.
Its final closing date hasn’t been found yet.