One building of nine: the Arts United Center opens, 1973

1973 - 2025

The opening: Construction followed the working drawings Kahn's office completed by the summer of 1970, and the Theatre of Performing Arts was inaugurated in a weeklong grand opening from 30 September to 6 October 1973, with Kahn on hand. The first performance in the theatre was presented by Fort Wayne Youtheatre, the children's company of 1934, a choice the foundation's timeline records and this section underlines: the district's flagship opened with the city's youngest performers, not its grandest. The theatre, a proscenium house of some 660 to 725 seats in the accounts of its capacities at different eras, with two studios and a scene shop, is the only theatre Louis Kahn ever designed and his only building in the Midwest. Kahn died of a heart attack at Penn Station in New York in March 1974, months after the opening. The building was renamed the Arts United Center in 2005, when it passed fully into the identity of the federation that had commissioned it 44 years before.

The flagship at fifty: The building's cultural career since is a record of the district filling in around it: the Fort Wayne Museum of Art's expanded building, designed by Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and expanded in 2007; Freimann Square, dedicated in 1972 on a posthumous gift from Magnavox president Frank Freimann; the History Center a block away; the Auer Center for Arts and Culture. In December 2024 the National Park Service listed the Arts United Center on the National Register of Historic Places with national significance, and in October 2025 the Center reopened after a multi-year renovation planned for nearly a decade, its accessibility rebuilt for a building designed before the Americans with Disabilities Act. The venue's architecture is carried in ARCHITECTURE and its stage life in THEATRES; here it stands as what it has been since 1973: the built proof that the 1955 federation could finish something permanent.

Sources:

1. Whatzup, Gem of city arts scene shines again (the weeklong grand opening of 30 September to 6 October 1973 with Kahn present; his death months later at Penn Station; the October 2025 reopening after renovation).
2. Arts United, 2017 Annual Report history timeline (the 1973 opening; Kahn attending opening ceremonies; the first performance presented by Fort Wayne Youtheatre; Freimann Square dedicated 1972; the building renamed in the Civic Theatre's account in 2005).
3. Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, A Brief Historic Overview (the Civic Theatre's move into the new Performing Arts Center in 1973; renamed Arts United Center in 2005).
4. Arts Campus Fort Wayne, A Soaring Vision (the Museum of Art building designed by Walter Netsch; expanded 2007; the Arts United Center as the district's flagship).
5. Nook, Arts United Partners with Nook to Expand Accessibility (the Center as the only performing arts centre completed by Louis Kahn; the 2025 renovation's accessibility work; National Register listing).
6. Allen County Genealogical Society, Arts United Center place page (the National Park Service listing of the Arts United Center on the National Register, reported in the Journal Gazette of 6 December 2024).