The image above was posted June 19, 2022 by
Randy Harter, Fort Wayne historian and authoron True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook. Randy was discussing the Palace Theater/Civic Theater E. Washington in relation to the corner with Clinton Street. He found this photo showing the Palace Theater (bottom 4th label from left) that Richard Stamats took from the top of the Lincoln Tower in 1964 that shows that block and Randy fiddled around labeling it.
The Richard Stamats video below shows the Palace Theater/Civic Theater E. Washington photo above morphing from his 1964 photo into a 2017 Daniel Baker photo back and forth from 15-seconds to around 50-seconds. Richard Stamats flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/stamats and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.stamats
Fort Wayne, Indiana 1964 and 2017 uploaded Jan 14, 2019 by Richard Stamatson YouTube Fort Wayne morph of two scenes both are from 1964 and 2017. These photos will be part of a book on Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne is where I was born and my home until 1967, I took the 1964 photographs at age 16. It is particularly lucky that I shot them in a way to make a panorama 50 years later. A book is available that includes these photos and many more. Available at Amazon Fort Wayne Through Time (America Through Time). On June 23, 2022 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook Richard Stamats posted the same video stating: In 2017, I put together this video with Daniel Baker's current photograph and my 1964 photographs into a morphing of the different dates. I added a WOWO story done by CBS as the audio. I hope you enjoy effect.
The wurlitzer organ at theatreorgans.com, says it ended up in a Tacoma, Washington restaurant destroyed by fire August 3, 1999 at Pizza and Pipes Restaurant - 3/20 Wurlitzer Tacoma, Washington.
Photo from Puget Sound Pipeline Online about the Pizza and Pipes Restaurant in Tacoma, Washington with photos of the beautiful "Balaban" style Wurlitzer [pipe organ that] was originally installed in 1927 in the Paramount Theatre, Fort Wayne Indiana. It was at the restaurant from 1974-1999 when the restaurant was destroyed August 3, 199 in a fire. It includes links to more photos after the fire and newspaper stories.
It had one screen and 2,086 seats. A photo shows the October 3, 1930page of
The News-Sentinel newspaperwhen it opened at 121 E. Wayne Street is one of 13 photos on Paramount Theatre CinemaTreasures.org with information and comments. One comment says Paul F. Nachtigall, was the sculptor who created and carved the molds for the bas-releif plasterwork inside the Emboyd (Embassy Theatre) and the Paramount in Fort Wayne from the special section about the Paramount when it opened on October 3, 1930.
Had a fine time interviewing FW landscaper Jim Saxton for 89.1 WBOI on his passion for rescuing historic lighting fixtures! If you missed it on Lisa's ATC, it airs on ATC w/ Zach (4:44 & 6:44) and find the extended version of our convo on our website later today (wboi.org) w/ more on the Paramount Theatre lighting refurbish & Jim's observations on the joy of this craft.
Here's how one devoted Fort Wayne resident, Jim Saxton, sparks an interest in the city's past, and preserves the glow of local history, one light fixture at a time.
Here's how one devoted Fort Wayne resident, Jim Saxton, sparks an interest in the city's past, and preserves the glow of local history, one light fixture at a time.
PLATINUM PERSPECTIVE | In the 1960s, a sign was installed above the entrance to a department store downtown featuring messages straight from WANE 15's newsroom.
PLATINUM PERSPECTIVE | In the 1960s, a sign was installed above the entrance to a department store downtown featuring messages straight from WANE 15's newsroom.
1732 West Main Street Fort Wayne, IN 46808, phone: (260) 424-2300. Two-story restaurant housed in an old factory building. Read more on the VisitFortWayne.com blog - Taking a Tour of Fort Wayne’s Historical Restaurants! posted on January 10, 2013 by Heather.
Penguin Point
The last Fort Wayne location was at 7303 Winchester Rd, Street View photo from Google maps
THERE ARE JUST SOME PLACES YOU CAN’T HELP REMEMBERING. This is the very first Penguin Point in the franchise. It started right here in Wabash in 1950 when the Stouder brothers (Wallace and Lloyd) opened their first store at the junction of State Roads 13 and 15 today. Although it has changed there is still one at this location.
They are known throughout northern Indiana for their Tenderloin sandwich, Big Wally, chicken and the best fries in the area made from Idaho potatoes. Anna Easterday says ‘Lord when I come to Indiana this is the first restaurant that we eat at. Love the Big Wally and Fries. Wish I had one right now.”
Carolyn Streby adds this to the story of Penguin Point “Dad (Lloyd Stouder) used their refrigerator payment to have petty cash to open. Mom (Leta Stouder) and Aunt Mary Stouder car hopped. Dad ran the fountain. Uncle Wally the grill. As far as the location at 13&15 it was a corn field. Dad bugged the farmer to the point that he finally caved and sold part of the field at 13&15. Only one problem. The bank wouldn't loan the money without a cosigner. So Grandpa and Grandma Wilber Stouder cosigned. And thus began the adventure of Penguin Point. In 1950 the double decker burger wasn't called "Big Wally" it much much later. It was a called ‘Fad Burger.’
“My father, on his own decided to go to Warsaw and start his own Penguin. Uncle Wally bought out my dad's share. So each owned their own Penguin. Wally Wabash Lloyd Warsaw exclusively. It was 1955, I was a teenager. I started working for mom and dad at 14 washing dishes. At 15, I started car hoping at .35 an hour +tips. Later .50. PP was the. BOMB to go to. My teen years was so much Fun.
“All teens hung out there, driving those beautiful 57 Chevy cars and other customized cars which we named. My car was named "Kitty. Another "Chicken Ship" another "Night Rider" etc. We wrote the name on the back fender. If you wanted to locate a certain teen, head to P.P. 10 to 1 they were there circling the building.”
Judy Garst Schramm says " This is how it looked when I worked there in the summer of 1959. Loved their Big Wallys and breaded tenderloins - oh yes, and fresh strawberry pie!" Beth Rigney has "Memories of this place: Scoop the loop was the weekend and Wed. nights during the summer. This was a way to meet others from other schools for dates. I met my husband there as well." May Lou McCallum adds "Love love this place! Have to stop whenever in Wabash! Remember sitting in our cars watching people and talking to everyone, while having a cherry coke."
Bob Marks recalls "That very first summer, 1950, I was 10 and lived on the South Side. Duke Gidley and I would ride our bikes out there on a then gravel Hale Lane and pick up the trash and junk on the lot! We each got a quarter for this job. Pretty good money for an hours+ work in those days!"
Aaron Proffitt adds "I worked there in 1960. I remember breading tenderloin by the big box full. Also hand squeezed boxes of lemons and made lemonade five gallons at a time in a 5 gallon cream can. My starting wage was $.40 an hour. We called the big burger a Wally 5 x 5."
The November 7, 1927 The Journal Gazette newspaper showed a drawing of a new store opening at 1208-1210 South Calhoun Street posted December 12, 2018 in You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook. The founder J. C. Penney came to Fort Wayne in 1932 to speak at a meeting with representatives from 19 stores in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. He had 1,477 stores nationwide with annual sales of $175,000,000. He opened his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming on an initial investment of $500.
The Peoples Trust Clock chiming the noon-hour at AroundFortWayne March 23, 2009 on YouTube. The Peoples Trust & Savings Company Clock in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana chiming the noon-time hour. This clock has been installed at the Baker Street Train Station in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. As well as the chiming, the clip shows some of the view from the site. For more information about this clock, visit this blog post: Downtown clock dedication January 30, 2009 at the
Around Fort Wayne blog.
The geodesic dome photo and discussion July 20, 2017by Fort Wayne Food Tours on Facebook. Photos of remaining buildings were posted May 2, 2019 by the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology on Facebook with a comment by historian Craig Leonard stating: The form was used to promote a new product, "pyramid accounts," by the People's Trust and Savings Bank. The engineer was Lev Zettlin, who gave a lecture at Ball State. He also worked on the Sears Tower in Chicago.
A January 8, 2023 post with the geodesic dome photo generatined over 100 comments on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook stated: Anyone recall the specific location of The Peoples Trust & Savings/Summit Bank. I think it was on Coliseum… Edit: I’m just asking about this one specifically. I know there are a number of Pyramid banks around the FW area (North Anthony, Tillman, West State) which have mostly been identified. I’m just trying to get more info about this lost gem that’s been replaced with a *checks notes* Panera Bread. A comment by Joan Hostetler shows a 1972 view called the California Road Branch from the Jack Smith Collection.
A natural gas explosion at Phelps Dodge on New Haven Avenue happened August 23, 1966 killing 2 and injured 22. A different explosion also occurred in February 1966 on Broadway.
4 DIE IN EXPLOSION. STILL SEARCH FOR BODIES AT FORT WAYNE. Fort Wayne, IN Office Building Explosion, Aug 1966 posted June 17th, 2009 by Stu Beitler from the Kokomo Tribune Indiana newspaper 1966-08-24 on GenDisasters.com.
Former police reporter remembers blast that killed two in 1966 by Sheryl Kreig was published October 7, 2017 in
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Philmore on Broadway
2441 Broadway, now closed, formerly philmoreonbroadway.com, and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilmoreonBroadway/. The Broadway Theater opened November 5th, 1923, as one of five ‘neighborhood’ theaters in Fort Wayne, and the only one located on Broadway; a major commercial strip at the time. The theater changed names over the years, but ran successfully for almost 60 years. It was renamed Indiana Theater in 1934 which closed November 9, 1969. December 19, 1969 opened as Theatre A, then in the 1970s operated as Cinema Blue, an X-rated theater, agreeing to close in 1985. The building became home to a restaurant in 1998, called the Catablu Gourmet American Grill closing May 29, 2009. It then became a jazz club known as The Philmore on Broadway. Cinema Treasures has several comments - one cites newspaper articles New Broadway Theater in the November 3, 1923
The News-Sentinel newspaperand Indiana Theater Closes Nov. 9 by Cindy Pond in the October 27, 1969 The Journal Gazette newspaper. Discussed May 31, 2016 on You know you've lived in Fort Wayne too long when... Private Facebook group.
Piggly Wiggly®, America’s first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who then gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a dynamic and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.
Despite predictions that his novel idea would fail, Saunders’ first store opened on September 6, 1916 at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis. Operating under the unusual name ‘Piggly Wiggly®’, it was unlike any other contemporary grocery store. There were shopping baskets, open shelves, and no clerks to shop for the customer – all of which were previously unheard of!
1925 - lists eight stores: 126 West Main Street, 1002 Broadway, 2039 Fairfield Avenue, 341 E. Lewis Street, 1902 and 2602 South Calhoun Street, 1406 Columbia Avenue and 1225 State Boulevard.
[ July 20, 2024 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook with photo stated: This building was a Piggly Wiggly in 1925 and is located on S. Calhoun Street at Masterson Ave and features a great deco style signage. Prior to being occupied by Automotive Color & Supply Co. it was home to Berger Hardware for many years. ]
1920′s Interior of a Piggly-Wiggly food store. They were out in front of the modern notion of the shopper picking their own groceries. Earlier, the shopper simply gave their list to the storekeeper who would themselves pull items from the shelves and bag them up.
The Miller’s Drug Store Building c. 1910/1968, 2135 Wells Street, is a good example of a nearly unaltered 20th Century Commercial style building. Now home to Moring Floral, it’s not necessarily architecturally notable but is important because it is relatively unaltered and an asset to the community. Few of these neighborhood retail stores are still standing as modern commercial districts and neighborhoods have surrounded them. The building has rectangular massing, variegated yellow brick walls, original wood display windows and 3/4 glazed door. The building has an interesting retail background. In 1927 the building was a Piggly Wiggly Store, but by 1930 the Miller Family had turned it into a drugstore. It remained a drugstore until 2015 and is currently the Moring Florist Shop. ARCH is proud to present this edition of Throwback Thursday, part of its work as the historic preservation organization serving the greater Fort Wayne area, made possible by ARCH members and donors. Thank you.
William H. Noll started the Pinex Company in 1905. This company manufactured a cough remedy called “Pinex” which, by 1910, could be purchased in nearly any drugstore in the United States. In 1960 Revlon, Inc. while expanding its operations in the proprietary drug field, purchased the Pinex Company. Copied from Pinex Company, Ft. Wayne, IN posted September 5, 2013 by Jessica on Old Main Artifacts with many photos and images of advertising, including a song on a Pinex calendar, Pinex laxative and several dozen comments from relatives and others.
WARNING: In addition to alcohol and oil of pine tar, one of the main ingredients in Pinex was chloroform. This substance has since been banned by the FDA for human consumption, as while unknown at the time it is now considered a probable carcinogen. From an article on our Noll Mansion Places page.
Pio Market
Check out this week's Positively Fort Wayne story about Pio Market on E State Blvd. They've been in business over 100 years and keep things old school!
Check out this week's Positively Fort Wayne story about Pio Market on E State Blvd. They've been in business over 100 years and keep things old school!
Pirogues are hollowed out from thirty to sixty foot long logs, these tree trunk boats brought families and cargo up the Maumee River from Toledo and Detroit, and returned with furs to Lake Erie in exchange for traders’ supplies. Read more on Pirogue Landing by Tom Castaldi published January 16, 2014 on History Center Notes & Queries blog.
Pizza- First Sold in Fort Wayne
In the 1940's at Tonys at Broadway and Taylor in what was later the gay nineties bar. Later moved out to Bluffton Road across from the drive-in, was called Pizza King but later Tony's Pizza. Discussed June 21, 2018 on You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook.
In honor of Police Week and the Law Enforcement Officers of Fort Wayne and Allen County, we are proud to give you a preview of the new Police Memorial Rose Garden.
Located at the intersection of Baker Street and Fairfield Ave., we originally built it in 2000 as a "Thank You" to the Uniformed & Narcotics Officers and the many others who helped us reclaim our neighborhood.
For the past15 years it has also honored all Fallen Officers within Allen County by displaying their picture during the anniversary of their death.
With the reconstruction of Fairfield, Baker and Ewing, we have decided to give the garden an updated look, as well. As of 5 PM tonight, we have 19 new rose bushes of red, pink and yellow with many more to come. Some have been around for years, along Baker Street and will be transplanted there too.
The theme may be new but the
"THANK YOU TO ALL OUR OFFICERS THROUGHOUT ALLEN COUNTY WILL ALWAYS BE THERE".
In 2000, Linda and I built this Memorial at the corner of Baker and Fairfield Ave. which we dedicated to the Police Officers who helped us save our neighborhood. Originally it was for Southwest Quadrant and Narcotics Officers but soon included all FWPD , Allen County and State Police Officers too. Over time, they all became involved in fighting the drug houses and removing prostitution from the area. ️
Redevelopment owned the property and allowed us to use it until they had a need for it. 19 years went by without a use for the land and it was sold to the current owner. He is very supportive of police and has allowed us to stay in the same location for the past 3 years. He and his brother (Steven, deceased) owned Affordable Granite on the same property and offered to help us build the new Law Enforcement/Firefighters Memorial (L.E.F.F.M.) on Wells St. They sold us the granite at cost, cut it, polished, engraved every panel and delivered it at no charge, simply because it was for our Police Officers and Firefighters and “It Was The Right Thing To Do”.
I write about this because the property is up for sale and the owner may need to remove or adjust its size to make the property more attractive for a buyer or if it does sell, the new owner may have a use for that corner of this valuable property. They may allow a substantially smaller Plaque to remain but not the large piece of property it occupies currently..
We can be sad that it may go but conversely, we must be thrilled that we were able to keep it here for 22 years, without owning it or paying rent.
We thank Redevelopment and the current owner for allowing us to use this property for all these years.
Is located on the southwest side of Fort Wayne is a land bridge connecting the three local rivers - Saint Joseph River flows south from Michigan, St. Marys River flows northwest from Ohio, and Maumee River flows northeast through Ohio eventually to Lake Erie at Toledo, with the beginning of the Wabash River in southwest Allen County and northeast Huntington County flowing southwest to the Ohio River. Portage is a French term for “carrying place,” denotes the route where early travelers carried their canoes from one river over to another, may have been a 9 to 25 miles long overland hike copied from The Beginnings of the Portage to the Wabash River posted June 10, 2013 by Tom Castaldi on the History Center Notes & Queries blog.
Portage Boulevard is a small street running between the southern side of Rockhill Park and Taylor Street on Fort Wayne's west side. Apart from one historical marker in Rockhill Park, it is all that remains physically to remind us of one of the principal reasons there is a community here.
The portage, a place where early travelers carried their canoes from one river to another, connected the St. Marys River - and thus the St. Joseph and Maumee Rivers - to the Little River, then the Wabash River, and finally the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
It is one of the shortest such routes between rivers in the heart of the continent. Fort Wayne was the only place in the most direct passage from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico that a trader bearing his wares two centuries ago had to leave the water and haul his cargo overland.
This was a great advantage to the traders. The wealth and prestige of the Miami Indians who lived at the eastern end of the portage also were greatly enhanced by their control of the portage. It is also among the chief reasons that Anthony Wayne chose to build a fort here.
There were other portages between the great bodies of water that helped to open the center of the continent. The Fox-Wisconsin River portage and the "carrying place" between the Chicago and Illinois Rivers are among the best known. The first used in Indiana (1679), and the shortest overland route anywhere, was the 4 -mile track at today's South Bend, between the "Big St. Joseph" and the Kankakee Rivers.
October 13, 2022 photo posted by ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage) stating: Dr. Carl & Henrietta Proegler House on Fairfield Avenue. This c.1870 Italianate house was the home of a well-known veteran surgeon. Born in Cologne, Germany, Dr. Proegler came to New York City in 1860. When the Civil War broke out, he offered his services. After the war, he went back to his New York practice until the Franco-German War started. He returned to Germany and was a surgeon. After the war he received the Iron Cross from German Emperor, William I. Dr. Proegler moved to Fort Wayne in 1874. He and his wife, Henrietta had eight children. This house is no longer standing. Cityscape Flats occupies the site.Dr. Carl & Henrietta Proegler House on Fairfield Avenue. This c.1870 Italianate house was the home of a well-known veteran surgeon. Born in Cologne, Germany, Dr. Proegler came to New York City in 1860. When the Civil War broke out, he offered his services. After the war, he went back to his New York practice until the Franco-German War started. He returned to Germany and was a surgeon. After the war he received the Iron Cross from German Emperor, William I. Dr. Proegler moved to Fort Wayne in 1874. He and his wife, Henrietta had eight children. This house is no longer standing. Cityscape Flats occupies the site.
️ 
