Family Theatre

If you were searching for the longest-running movie house in Elkhart that never converted to sound, this is your theater. The Theatorium began as a nickelodeon housed within a third of the 1887-built A.A. Jones Block at 421 South Main Street.

Fred Worcester opened the Palace Electric Theatre on October 8, 1906 with with Edward Dillon in “The Village Cutup”, the 1902 version of “A Policeman’s Dream", “Girl Shares Her Breakfast with the Cat", and “Fun or Fun” all for a nickel. H.L. Bowers an Charles Kernott took over the venue to convert it to a “metropolitan (movie) theater. The venue had a new cosmopolitan front and a sophisticated interior under their watch. It was rebranded as the Theotorium on April 2, 1907.

W.J. Himebaugh took on the venue in September of 1907 giving it yet another, more regal new look. To meet insurance underwriting requirements, the projection booth was lined with sheet metal to prevent against an exploding film. Himebaugh rebooted the somewhat safer locale as the Royal Theatre on October 12, 1907.

On April 13, 1913, Angelo M. Pechorelli, operator of the Venetian Theatre, acquired the Royal. Following a refresh, it reopened on April 26 as the Family Theatre. The venue enjoyed a successful run, aided by its proximity to the busy streetcar lines that stopped just two doors down. In 1921, the neighboring block was razed to make way for the impressive St. Joseph Valley Bank Building. The highlight of the construction was the installation of a 20-ton vault door, which had to be positioned before the building was even finished and delivered by rail. When the bank opened on September 5, 1922, it drove even more foot traffic to the Family Theatre. Ironically, this bank’s creation would signal the eventual doom of the A.A. Jones Block some 57 years later.

Harry E. Lerner, head of the Lerner Theatre Corp., served as the Family Theater’s final operator. In late-1929, he attempted to compete by screening silent exploitation films. However, as Elkhart’s only remaining theater unable to convert to sound, the writing was on the wall. Reflecting on the shift to “talkies, Lerner noted: “We are of the opinion that the silent picture is through; unless there is a heavy demand for this type of picture, the Family (would) reopen”. While other venues like the Orpheum Theatre c onverted to sound, the Family sat idle for nine months. Seeing no future for the format, Lernr finally gutted the theater and leveled the floor in September 1930.

By 1978, the former bank at 429 South Main was slated for demolition to make way for parking. Fortunately, the Corinthian-columned building was saved by art collectors Richard and Billye Jane Burns, who donated the building as the future home of the Midwest Museum of Art. However, the city still required parking for the upcoming Elkhart City Centre project. The A.A. Jones Block next door was the unfortunate victim. Despite legal filings and property disputes, the 90-year-old building was eventually vacated and demolished to provide the city with its parking lot.

The Family Theatre (and its predecessor namesakes) represent a notable historical lineage in local cinema history. Whether through a sense of historical defiance or, more likely, a lack of the significant capital required for a sound conversion, the venue maintained a continuous silent run in the same building for basically the entire era of silent mainstream theatrical operation. It never strayed from its programming as a pure movie theater in its 23 years of operation. For a city the size of Elkhart, this longevity and programmatic exclusivity to the art of silent film were rare. So we recognize Mr. Lerner here for his hopeful, lingering opportunity to reopen a silent theater in Elkhart just in case demand warranted it. Demand was not in the offing, however.

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