The State Theater began in a whirlpool of controversy. Seventeen months after it was built and opened, someone planted a bomb near the center of the main floor and destroyed the facility at 3:00 a.m. on November 8, 1928. As you can see from the many theaters in downtown Hammond, there was a lot of competition. Some felt that the Bijou Photoplay Theater was responsible for the bombing. The Bijou was located just two blocks away on State Street. Finally it was solved when it was learned that lessee hired someone because he could not afford the lease payments on the building. See articles below. State Theater - 564 State Street - Hammond, IN 46320 Opened on 26th August 1926, the State Theatre on State Street in downtown Hammond was the largest of several movie palaces in the city when it opened, and, at over 3000 seats, one of the largest in Indiana at the time. It was built by the Karzas brothers who operated the Trianon and Aragon Ballrooms in Chicago. Lavishly appointed inside, complete with an Italian Renaissance terra-cotta facade, the State Theatre not only offered motion pictures, but live stage shows as well. The State Building, besides housing the State Theatre, also contained the Granada Ballroom (which later became a roller skating rink), several storefronts, and office space on the upper floors. Unfortunately, this beautiful movie houses career would be extremely short-lived, since an bomb exploded on 8th November 1927, all but obliterating the theater auditorium, which was eventually demolished. The Granada Ballroom suffered some damage, and was closed for a while but re-opened after some time. Retail would eventually fill up the former theater lobby space, including a supermarket, a furniture store and a laundromat. In 1943, a blaze destroyed the former Granada Ballroom and the supermarket on the ground floor below it. In 1947, the city ordered the buildings owner to have the huge vertical marquee, several stories tall, torn down, due to its starting to become unstable. The State Building was razed in 1967 to make way for the main Hammond Public Library building, which opened in 1968.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:19:19 +0000
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