A 1929 John Eberson atmospheric movie palace built over the Ohio & Erie Canal, with three resident ghosts including a custodian named Fred
182 S Main St, Akron, OH 44308
Research updated July 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by event; see the theatre's shows page for current pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored historic theater with lobby, orchestra, and balcony levels
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1929 · 1929 John Eberson atmospheric theater · One of only sixteen surviving Eberson atmospheric theaters in the U.S. · Built over the Ohio & Erie Canal at Lock 3
The Akron Civic Theatre opened in 1929 as Loew's Theatre, an atmospheric movie palace designed by the Austrian-born architect John Eberson. Eberson's atmospheric style staged the auditorium as an open-air courtyard: a Moorish and Mediterranean garden with statuary, carved facades, and a domed ceiling painted and lit to resemble a night sky, with projected clouds and stars drifting overhead. It is one of only sixteen surviving Eberson atmospheric theaters in the United States.
The 2,600-seat theater was built over the route of the Ohio and Erie Canal, and a stretch of the old canal still runs in a tunnel beneath the building near Lock 3. The project was completed by Marcus Loew's theater company and ran for decades as a movie and stage house.
By the late twentieth century the aging theater faced possible demolition. It was reorganized as the nonprofit Akron Civic Theatre, and a major restoration returned the auditorium's night-sky ceiling and garden detailing to their original effect. The Civic continues to program concerts, films, comedy, and touring stage productions in downtown Akron, and its box office sits at 182 South Main Street, at the address also marked as King James Way.
Sources
Three presences turn up repeatedly in accounts of the Civic. The best known is Fred, described in the local tradition as a longtime custodian who died during a shift at the theater. Staff and visitors cast him as protective rather than menacing, a caretaker who dislikes vandalism and disrespect and looks out for patrons.
The second is a young woman connected to the canal that runs beneath the building. In the local telling she drowned in the Ohio and Erie Canal, and she is seen walking the water's edge near Lock 3 before disappearing into the tunnel, sometimes heard weeping. Because the canal predates the 1929 theater, some versions hold that her story is older than the building above it.
The third is a well-dressed man in formal evening clothes, usually noticed alone in the balcony. No name or reason has ever been attached to him. The folklorist Michael Kleen and several regional ghost catalogs have recorded the trio, which has made the Civic a fixture on lists of haunted Ohio theaters.
Notable Entities
The restored atmospheric theater programs concerts, films, comedy, and stage productions in its 2,600-seat auditorium, where a domed ceiling is lit to resemble a night sky. Tickets are sold through the theatre's shows page and box office at 182 South Main Street.
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