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Report will tell
theater's future - Abilene, KS By CHRIS GRENZ The Capital-Journal If they can't, the town will lose one of its finest treasures. Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower conducted his first news conference in the downtown movie house that opened in 1910. Abilene residents have had countless evenings -- and first dates -- at the theater for as long as townsfolk can remember. Cathy Strowig, who runs the theater owned by her mother, Betty Strowig, said an insurance adjustor and engineer inspected the building Wednesday. The engineer plans to file a report with the insurance company by today. But Strowig said she likely won't see the inspection results until next week. No one was in the building just after noon Sunday when the roof collapsed. The collapse likely was caused by a weakening of the structure by a series of severe thunderstorms and downpours, Strowig said. She said "a good chunk" of the roof came crashing down inside the theater. The entire roof probably will have to be replaced, she said. The west wall also collapsed, and the north wall is unstable and has been shored up with boards, she said. A falling support beam tore through the theater's screen, which was among the largest in the state. Strowig said she isn't sure if the damage can be repaired. If it can, she said, the project won't be cheap. "I know to remove that roof and replace the two walls that are unsound will be an enormous, enormous project -- very expensive," she said. Strowig was allowed into the building for five minutes this week to retrieve what few items she could grab. She took mostly historical items from the office, including photographs, documents and the microphone Eisenhower used to declare his candidacy. Another business, Last Chance Graphics, was located inside the theater and also sustained damage. Next door, an antique store lost the roof over a storage area, Strowig said. Representatives from those businesses couldn't be reached for comment. The theater's damage has been upsetting to the Strowig family. They completed an extensive renovation of the theater six years ago, and a digital sound system that was installed last year was heavily damaged in the collapse. "It's been a part of our family for so long," said Strowig, whose grandfather purchased the building in 1930 and converted the 600-seat theater to motion picture use. "It's upsetting. It's like losing a member of our family." The idea of losing the theater has been hard for the entire town, Strowig said. "We may have owned the building, but everybody in town thinks that's their theater," she said. "It's a tremendous loss for the community. Like everything else in a small town, it's just always been there and now when it's gone, it really hits you."
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Movie House History - Classic
Theaters Of Kansas © 2007 |
