Hilbert Circle Theatre

The Circle is thought to be the first theatre to open with the express purpose of showing feature-length moving pictures in the country. However, like many theaters of this period, the Circle also hosted live acts. It replaced a livery stable owned by the Wood Transfer Company, which stood on that spot for much of the 19th century. The Circle opened on August 30, 1916, with orchestral music, a dedication speech by Mayor Joseph Bell, and a showing of the silent movie Home. Other movies shown during its initial year were Wild and Wooly, which starred Douglas Fairbanks, and A Poor Little Rich Girl, with Mary Pickford. In 1928, the Circle played the first movie with sound shown in Indianapolis, The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson. In the 1940s, big band jazz came to the theater. The Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Paul Whiteman Band made stops on their touring circuits. 

The 3,100 seat theater showed movies for sixty-five years. But like almost all movie palaces, it fell on hard times as development patterns and tastes changed. By the 1970s, the Circle Theater had fallen into disrepair. The building was briefly closed in 1981, talk of its demolition spread, and the owner and potential buyers fought to keep it off the National Register of Historic Places, as this would make it's razing that much easier. Fortunately, the Indianapolis Power and Light Company purchased the old theatre and, with tax-credit incentive and a great deal of community support, undertook an extensive $7 million renovation of the theater in the early 1980s. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra then made the Circle it's new home. It reopened on October 17, 1984, to rave reviews, and since then, it's hosted numerous shows, symphonies, the weightlifting competition for the 1987 Pan-Am Games, and hosted the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon when the Super Bowl came to town in 2012. Tonight Show alumnus Jay Leno also hosted a fundraiser for the theatre in 2016 entitled "Laughing Matters."   

The Circle has completed its long, strange trip from an early twentieth-century vaudeville house to a world-class symphonic and live-show performance venue. Its stage was torn out, rebuilt, and expanded during twelve weeks in 2002; all the seats were removed, reconfigured, and replaced in 2013, under a grant from the Lilly Endowment. A 3-manual, 24-rank Wurlitzer Theatre Organ was also installed. The theater now seats 1,781 people for concerts and shows, and today the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is the largest performing arts organization in the state and one of only fifteen full-time orchestras nationwide.

The theater celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in 2016, renewing its support for its resident symphony orchestra but also extending its outreach to the greater Indianapolis community. The hall, lobbies, and Wood Room facility are now available during nonperformance dates for meetings, seminars, receptions, concerts, or for public or private functions. 

Justice, Larry. "National Register of Historic Places -- Nomination Form." United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. December 6, 1979. Accessed February 14, 2017. https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/1d4d4/N/Circle_Theater_Marion_CO_Nom.pdf

"Hilbert Circle Theatre." Architect Magazine. October 29, 2015. Accessed February 14, 2017. http://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/hilbert-circle-theatre_o

"The Hilbert Circle Theatre Celebrates its 100th Anniversary in 2016." Indianapolis Symphony. Accessed February 14, 2017. https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/about/hilbert-circle-theatre