The summer stage: Foellinger Theatre

Built 1949 — Franke Park

Music under the sky: In 1949 Helene Foellinger, publisher of the News-Sentinel, gave Fort Wayne an open-air theatre in Franke Park in memory of her father, Oscar G. Foellinger, the paper's former publisher. The Foellinger Theatre was molded into a grassy hillside as an informal community gathering and performing place — the city's Parks Department's own history notes that for many years it provided a large performance stage in Fort Wayne even as the downtown movie houses fell to television. A fire in 1972 led to a rebuilding: reconstruction began in 1975 and in 1976 the present open-sided dome and a new stage house were added, again through the Foellinger Foundation's generosity. The theatre seats about 2,751 and draws, by the department's count, more than 50,000 people a year to concerts, movies, and other functions. Its summer seasons mix free community programming — community band and choir concerts among them — with ticketed touring acts; the Philharmonic and the Children's Choir are part of its regular life, and its stage has carried everyone from the Grass Roots to Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross across the decades. It is the park-band tradition of the band era, given a permanent bowl: the place where Fort Wayne still hears its music outdoors.

Sources:

1. City of Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation, "Franke Park History" and "History" (cityoffortwayne.in.gov) — the 1949 gift from Helene Foellinger in memory of Oscar G. Foellinger, the 1972 fire, the 1975–76 dome and stage house, the 2,751 seats, and the 50,000 annual attendance.
2. Parks & Recreation programming accounts (The Post & Mail; Tripadvisor venue record) — the mix of free community concerts and touring acts, including the Philharmonic, the Children's Choir, and headline performers such as Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.