Following his conversion to Christianity and overcoming alcohol and gambling addiction,[1][2] E. Howard Cadle, an Indiana businessman who owned a chain of shoe repair shops and worked as a car salesman, had a strong desire to evangelize.

[2][3] Cadle took note of the upcoming revival tour by Rodney "Gipsy" Smith and his choir in Indianapolis, a widely publicized event in the spring of 1921.

[2] The initial plan for the Cadle Tabernacle was to allow Gypsy Smith's revival choir to organize on a permanent basis.

Other ministries, such as the Unitarians, felt that the tabernacle hurt Christian unity by splitting religious groups in Indianapolis.

[11] A month later, in December 1921, Cadle announced his plans to turn the tabernacle into a multi-use convention center,[11] at a time when the largest public auditorium in Indianapolis seated 3,500.

Samuel L. Shank, the newly elected mayor of Indianapolis, proposed buying the tabernacle building, but Cadle refused.

Mayor Shank pointed out that legal action might be taken against the tabernacle and its tax exemption as a religious institution cancelled if it held secular events.

[12] Another issue occurred in April 1923 when a group of Ku Klux Klan members gave $600 and a letter of appreciation to visiting evangelist E.J.

[14] After a dispute with the board, who encouraged him to leave the tabernacle,[14] Cadle sold his financial interest to the building in June 1923 to an organization that promised to continue its religious program before moving to Florida.

With a fundraising event and media support,[18] he raised enough money to reopen the tabernacle in October 1931, ten years after its initial opening.

The station's new high-wattage signals, capable of transmitting at 500,000-watts by 1934, could reach Canada and parts of Central America under ideal conditions.

[22] In 1934, the Cadle Tabernacle received an average of 24,000 letters a month, requiring twenty staff members to process.

An estimated 330 to 600 rural mountain churches (about 60,000 people) tuned into his show in southern Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio.

B. R. Lakin, a Baptist preacher and evangelist, took over Cadle's position as senior pastor and continued to broadcast his program.

[3] After Ola Cadle's death in 1955, the tabernacle was rented to a range of groups, including the annual Indiana State Teachers Association conferences and Shortridge High School graduations.

[26] The Spanish-Mission style building, which covered a quarter of a city block, had whitewashed walls and a red tiled roof.

It also played a major role in the evangelical community of the Midwest and upper South when E. Howard Cadle was an active evangelist.