Ross Theatre was a large neighborhood movie theater located at 1950 Washington Avenue in Evansville, Indiana, near the intersection of Washington Avenue and Boeke Road. Opened on Christmas Day 1949, the Ross became one of Evansville’s best-known movie theaters and remained a fixture of East Side entertainment for more than four decades.

The theater closed in 1991 and was demolished in 1994.

Opening

Ross Theatre was constructed as part of the Ross Center, one of Evansville’s early post-World War II suburban shopping developments.

The theater was built by Evansville builder and real-estate developer Will Ross and was designed by the Evansville architectural firm Fowler and Karges.

Ross Theatre officially opened on December 25, 1949.

Its opening attraction was the comedy My Friend Irma, starring John Lund, Marie Wilson, Diana Lynn, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

The theater contained approximately 1,006 seats, making it a substantial neighborhood movie house rather than a small cinema.

Ross Center

The theater was an important part of the larger Ross Center shopping complex along Washington Avenue.

Ross Center opened during a period when Evansville was expanding rapidly eastward following World War II. New housing developments, businesses and shopping areas increasingly appeared outside the traditional Downtown commercial district.

Ross Center became one of the city’s early strip shopping centers, and Ross Theatre served as its major entertainment attraction.

The theater became so closely associated with the area that the surrounding neighborhood continues to be known as Ross Center decades after the theater disappeared.

The Theater

Ross Theatre was a single-screen movie palace built in the Streamline Moderne style.

Inside, the theater was remembered for distinctive architectural details including its large auditorium and unusual teardrop-shaped ceiling features.

For generations of Evansville residents, the Ross was a neighborhood destination for first-run movies, dates, family outings and weekend entertainment.

Historic photographs also show that the building occasionally served purposes beyond movies. During the 1950s, for example, a church congregation temporarily held services inside Ross Theatre while its own church building was under construction.

Cinema 1

In 1971, Ross Theatre was temporarily renamed Cinema 1 as part of a naming change involving several Evansville theaters.

The change did not last.

After the opening of another Cinema 1 and Cinema 2 complex created confusion, the historic Ross name returned, with the theater becoming known for a period as Ross-Cinema 1.

For most Evansville residents, however, it simply remained the Ross.

Midnight Movies

During its later years, Ross Theatre developed another following through its midnight movie screenings.

Among the films remembered as late-night favorites at the Ross were The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pink Floyd – The Wall.

These screenings gave the aging single-screen theater a different cultural identity during the 1970s and 1980s and became part of the memories of a younger generation of Evansville moviegoers.

Closure

By the late 20th century, traditional single-screen neighborhood theaters were increasingly struggling against newer multiplex cinemas.

Ross Theatre ultimately closed in March 1991, ending more than 40 years of movie exhibition on Washington Avenue.

Historic photographs taken shortly before the closure preserve the theater’s appearance during its final days.

The vacant theater remained standing for several more years.

Demolition

Ross Theatre was demolished in May 1994.

Photographs from May 12, 1994, document the theater being torn down, bringing an end to one of Evansville’s most recognizable neighborhood cinemas.

Although the building disappeared, the Ross Center name survived.

The surrounding shopping area and neighborhood continue to carry the Ross name, providing an unusual example of a demolished Evansville landmark whose identity remains attached to the surrounding part of the city.

Legacy

For more than four decades, Ross Theatre was part of everyday life on Evansville’s East Side.

Its history also reflects a larger change occurring throughout Evansville after World War II.

While earlier generations traveled Downtown to theaters such as the Victory, Grand and Majestic, Evansville’s expanding population increasingly lived and shopped farther east. Ross Theatre brought the traditional large movie-house experience directly into one of these developing commercial districts.

Later, multiplex theaters would transform moviegoing again and contribute to the disappearance of large neighborhood single-screen cinemas like the Ross.

Today, photographs, newspaper advertisements and memories from former patrons preserve the history of a theater that once stood at the center of one of Evansville’s busiest neighborhood shopping districts.

Quick Facts

Name: Ross Theatre
Also known as: Cinema 1, Ross-Cinema 1
Address: 1950 Washington Avenue, Evansville, Indiana
Opened: December 25, 1949
Opening film: My Friend Irma
Seats: Approximately 1,006
Architects: Fowler and Karges
Developer: Will Ross
Architectural style: Streamline Moderne
Location: Ross Center / Washington Avenue
Closed: March 1991
Demolished: May 1994
Category: Lost Evansville