Bijou Theatre

Located across the street from what was the popular Edward C. Minas Department Store in the busy east State Street shopping corridor, the 1915 Sanborn (see Photos) shows the Bijou Theatre at 173/175 State Street, immediately to the left of the Oddfellows Hall (177/179 State Street.) The Bijou Theatre’s entrance was tucked between the Sterling Woolen Mills store and the Bijou Shoe Shining Parlor.

Hammond businessman William Gostlin built the Bijou Theatre and leased it to Hugo Freels and William Craick, both established showmen. The Bijou opened on February 20, 1909, with 350 seats. In August 1909 the Bijou Theatre briefly closed so that storefronts alongside the theatre’s entrance could be reconfigured thereby increasing available seats to 560.

In January 1910, Freels and Craick parted company. Craick bought out Freels in May 1910 after which Charles Van Sickle, who also operated the Gem Theatre on West State Street, took over. In June 1918 the Pastime Theatre Company, which operated the Pastime Theatre located seventy-five feet to the west, purchased the Bijou Theatre from Van Sickle. Two months later the Bijou Theatre was updated, remodeled, redecorated and under new management.

The Bijou Theatre closed in January 1924. The building that it occupied was leased to local jeweler S. Silver, who added a second floor and remodeled the space for use by the People Credit Clothing Company. That store, one of the company’s largest, opened on April 12, 1924.

The Oddfellows building still stands at 469 State Street. The adjacent building at 475 State Street (it’s numbered out of order) may have started life as the Bijou Theatre – its footprint matches the 1915 Bijou Theatre’s footprint. Now in use as the Hometown Thrift Store, it sits across the street from the First Baptist Church, once the site of the Minas store.

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