The Crump, Indiana’s earliest recognized theater still in operation, has been “about to be born-again” for over thirty years. On April 8, the Crump Center for the Carrying out Arts launched the schematic design for the restoration and eastern expansion of the Crump Theatre in Columbus. This is the first time the pledge of its renovation has featured architectural drawings.
The design, led by Indianapolis-based DKGR Architects with principal designer Brian Schubert, includes a brand-new wing to the east of the existing building, expanding the lobbies throughout 2 floors and updating the 750- to 800-seat main hall with a brought back veranda, contemporary availability, and advanced lighting and sound. The capital campaign targets $15 million for building and $3 million for an operating endowment. Construction might begin as early as late fall 2026.
Richard McCoy, executive director of Landmark Columbus, has actually called Crump Theatre “a living memory bank for Columbus.” The structure on 3rd Street is not one theater. It is at least 7, folded inside each other– each one a various age, a different skin, a different variation of what a town builds when it wants a space where everyone can sit together in velour seats to laugh, cry, be frightened, and fall in love. To understand what DKGR is building onto, you need to go back to 1871.
The Game (1871 )
Before it was a theater, the building was a 2-story commercial block called Keith’s Game, built by Colonel John A. Keith, a Civil War veteran and attorney. 3 arches across the facade. Occupants in every room: a newspaper, stores, and offices. In the late 1880s, Keith was stated ridiculous and lost the Game to settle a debt to the Crump household. John S. Crump bought it at auction for $6,000.