PSTOS - Orpheum Theatre, Havre Montana

Orpheum Theatre - 2/4 Wicks-Robert Morton, Style 75
Havre, Montana
322 1st St.
Organ installation timeframe: 1923 -

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Orpheum Theatre, c.1914

According to the PSTOS Bill Bunch/Eugene Nye archives, the Orpheum Theatre had a 2/4, Style 75 Wicks-built Robert Morton, opus #455 installed in 1923

A news item appearing in the Great Falls Daily Tribune September 4, 1913 references an earlier instrument installed in 1913, manufacturer and specification unknown.

Status of both instruments is unknown.

Henry Harke was one of the first organists at the Orpheum.

Great Fall Daily Tribune September 4, 1913. "One of the pleasing features was the $3,000 pipe organ just put in, which is an instrument constructed especially for Manager Penny, and by a manipulation of certain stops can represent either a piano or a six piece orchestra."

By 1929, talkies had arrived in Havre. Sid Hirshberg, owner of the Orpheum, sold the theatre to Joe Moore, owner of the nearby Lyric Theatre. Several articles in The Havre Daily News describe Moore's plans for installation of sound equipment at the Orpheum. The Orpheum pipe organ was initially slated to move to the Lyric, but this plan was abandoned and sound equipment was ordered for both theatres.

The Havre Daily News February 28, 1929

The Havre Daily News June 1, 1929

The Havre Daily News July 3, 1929

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Downtown Havre street scene, Orpheum Theatre on left, c.1954

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c.1958

Blurry view of 1st St., from a postcard, c.1950s