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The theatre: The Foellinger Theatre in Franke Park was built in 1949 as Helene Foellinger's gift to the city in memory of her father Oscar, the News-Sentinel publisher. It seats 2,751. Fire damaged it in the 1970s and it was rebuilt in 1976 with Foellinger Foundation funds; the foundation's grants to it continue, including $200,000 for its sound system. It remains the city's outdoor summer stage — a newspaper fortune still selling tickets to summer nights, at park prices, three-quarters of a century on.
The conservatory: The Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory opened in November 1983, joining the two names that dominate this part of the section. The idea was Helene Foellinger's and attorney Bill Sowers's; Helene funded it in honor of her mother Esther, who had first suggested a conservatory to her (the Foellinger Foundation's account). A 1979 multi-party agreement among the City, the Foellinger Foundation, the Freimann Charitable Trust, and the Lincoln National Corporation preceded the opening — four of the city's fortunes, two family and two corporate, signing one building into existence. Between the theatre and the conservatory, the pattern of Fort Wayne wealth at its best is written plainly enough: make it here, and leave it here, in a form the whole city can walk into.
Sources:
- City of Fort Wayne — Foellinger Theatre history (1949 gift, 2,751 seats, the 1976 rebuilding); Conservatory "About Us" (the 1983 opening, the 1979 agreement, the backers).
- Foellinger Foundation — Helene's gift in memory of Oscar; the conservatory funded in honor of Esther, who first suggested it.