The State Theatre was one of several projects developed jointly by Loew's and United Artists. (The celebrated Ohio Theatre in Columbus was another.) Among John Eberson's largest designs, its auditorium incorporated many of his standard elements and bore a general resemblance to a number of others, particularly the much smaller State Theatre in Kalamazoo. The public spaces, however, were more distinctive. The auditorium's setback from the street afforded room for a sizable entry in addition to the lofty main lobby beneath the balcony.

Built during the transition from silent pictures to sound, the State Theatre came equipped for whatever might come along: sound on disk (Vitaphone), sound on film (Movietone), and silents. The opening program reflected the turmoil of the era: a feature with "synchronized accompaniment" (recorded music but no dialog), a sound short ~ both of these would have been on disks ~ and a Movietone newsreel. The organ played only a solo spot, and there was no pit orchestra. Jan Garber and his boys played from the stage. Things got simpler soon enough: silent movies quickly passed into history, followed by the Vitaphone.

In the '60s, the house was piggybacked with minimal damage to the ornamental work, save for an escalator in the outer lobby. The auditorium has since been reunited, and a substantial renovation was completed in 1994. Now called the Palace Theatre, it was offered for auction in December, 1995, and its status as of this writing in 1997 is not clear.

Having abandoned Moller rather late in the game, Loew's generally bought Robert Mortons for its largest projects, but Wurlitzer also got a piece of the action, mostly in the form of 3/13s, the same organ newly favored by the Orpheum circuit. The State's organ was revived in 1963 by James Wingate and friends, but the presence of a balcony theatre made its regular use somewhat problematic. Later removed to a Georgia pizza parlor, it has been broken up. The console now controls the organ in Manual High School, Indianapolis.