Damm Theater

Damm Theater
117 N. Buckeye Street
Osgood, IN 47037

812.689.DAMM

Opened in 1921 as the Columbia Theater by Gottlieb and Emma Herman and Richard Beer, the theater was purchased by Louis Damm and opened as the Damm Theater on February 22, 1922. A dance hall was on the second floor of the theater building.

The Damm family settled in Osgood, Indiana having emigrated from Bavaria in 1868. The Damms owned an earlier Damm Theater in Osgood which they opened in 1914, nearly across Buckeye Street from the present Damm Theater. When the Damms purchased the Columbia Theater, the Damm name was transferred to the new Columbia.



The theater was used as a community theater in addition to its use as a first run theater. During the silent film days, a piano-console Wurlitzer player organ was installed. In the depression, the organ was repossessed by the area Wurlitzer agent J. W.Whitlock of Rising Sun, Indiana. The Damm Theater dance hall also contained a Wurlitzer orchestration for dance music.

The theater was run by the Damm family until 1989 when Viola Damm passed on. Other than the removal of the organ, in 1989, the Damm Theatre was magnificently intact right down to the crushed red velvet and electrified gas lamps on the walls. Viola Damm was a delightful lady who made the best popcorn east of the Mississippi! She was highly apologetic about filling the piano pit with concrete.

In June 2008, the fourth stage of renovation was completed with the lighting of the marquee.

The Damm officially reopened on December 29, 2008 and is now open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday screening recent films. The theater is equipped for the hearing impaired.

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