Former Liberty Theater, Terre Haute, Indiana
-Liberty Theater History-
History
So far, details about this theater have been somewhat elusive. Most people living today remember this theater as the Grand Theater, a name it took on after the Grand Opera House was demolished by the Hulmans in the late 1950s to add parking for the Terre Haute House. According to local historians, this is actually the second or third theater building to sit on this corner; one of the former being the "Varieties". Both the Varieties and the Liberty were Vaudville theaters which featured live entertainment. The house orchestra for the Liberty was the Leo Baxter Orchestra which also played at the Hippodrome and others. One of the key players in the Varieties/Liberty was prominent Terre Haute businessman Theodore Barhydt, the man who also built the beautiful (and still in use!) Hippodrome and Indiana Theaters on Ohio Street. According to local historian Mike McCormick, Barhydt's responsibilities also included being the "president and largest stockholder of Lyric Theater Corp., operator of the Lyric (later the Orpheum Theater) and Varieties (later the Liberty Theater) vaudeville houses on Wabash." Eventually, like others, the theater began showing movies instead of live entertainment. Under the name Grand Theater, it was a movie house until the mid to late 1970s. Most of its original beauty was lost during this time. After the theater finally closed, it was purchased by the adjacent Tribune Star newspaper for use as a warehouse for it's new printing press. The paper thoroughly gutted the interior to an empty shell and "beefed up" the floor to handle the weight of the new press. You may also notice a large satellite dish on the roof. That was quite a significant development when it was first installed in about 1980. The dish was one of the first satellite news feeds in the state. The new press room was used from about 1980 until recent years, when the paper built a modern press building on east Margaret Ave. In recent years, the building has primarily served as storage for old restaurant equipment. In 2005, it also became the temporary home for salvage from the Terre Haute House. All of this was removed in preparation for demolition of the theater building. More history will be added as we find it. If you can contribute, please send an e-mail at terrehautehouse@hotmail.com!
