Wilmington, Ohio

12 North South Street, Wilmington, OH

Murphy Theatre, Wilmington, OH

Wilmington, Ohio has an attractive, if quiet, downtown.  My happiness in finding a North South Street address was tempered by the lack of a complementary South North Street.  In fact, there was no North Street at all.

That Murphy Theatre sign is nice, isn't it?  Charles W. Murphy, the Wilmington native who built it in 1918, had quite an interesting life.  He was a pharmacist in Cincinnati but quit to become a sportswriter at the Cincinnati Enquirer.  The paper was owned by future president William Howard Taft's half-brother.  This gave Murphy connections to the worlds of baseball, politics and money.  It's a convoluted story but those connections gave Murphy the chance to buy the Chicago Cubs in 1905, using Taft's money, at a bargain basement price. 

Murphy hired great second baseman Frank Chance, of Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance fame, to manage the team.  In 1906 the Cubs posted the most wins ever in a season.  They won the World Series that year and again in 1908.  Murphy was kind of a jerk and by the 1908 World Series he was among the most despised men in baseball.  The Cubs never did win another World Series and Murphy was out of baseball by 1914.  Using his profit from selling the Cubs he built this theater. 

Opening day in 1918 was a grand affair.  His wife said "You must now tell your friends at home that the reason Cincinnati does not grow faster is that it is too close to Wilmington."  Two years later Murphy moved to Cincinnati, apparently Wilmington was getting too big, and then to Chicago, where he died in 1931.

Unrelated:  1970s transistor radios.

Comments

[Dane]

You got to see the Murphy all lit up! Lucky you. Love the transistor radio link.

[Cheryl]

Is there a S. South Street?

When I was a kid, I saved up money and ordered a Philco Ford transistor radio and I listened to Royals Baseball games. (But that woulda been a '60s transistor radio.)

[joe]

Why didn't I go to the free movie?

Yes, South Street does extend south of Main St. The shady looking Manhattan Lounge was on S. South, photos to appear on Flickr someday.

We had a 1960s Sony transistor radio that we would take to the beach.

[ashlyn]

i am a nine year old and i recently moved from wilmingto i an super sad i have been in the murphy theater befor it is underground! it is so fun! i miss it there with all my friends i just moved a year ago ):

[Joe]

I didn't realize the theater was underground. That's very cool!

You hang in there, Ashlyn. Moving is hard. My family moved when I was eleven and it took a while to make new friends. But you will. Before you know it you'll have all sorts of friends and maybe even a nifty movie theater to hang out in.