Fire Destroys Empire Theater, 1959

From The Chrisman Weekly Courier March 26, 1959

FIRE DESTROYS EMPIRE THEATER 

Raging Inferno Caused By Trash

Fire Last Thursday Morning;

Other Buildings Are Threatened

The Empire Theater on the south side of the square in Chrisman was destroyed by fire last Thursday forenoon (March 19) despite the valiant efforts of firemen and other volunteers from Chrisman, Metcalf, and Ridgefarm.

The fire was discovered at about 8:30 a.m. by Stanley R. Kent, co-owner of the theater. Pushed by a strong southwest wind and hidden under dense clouds of black smoke, the fire was out of control by the time fire departments arrived.

By 11 a.m., all that remained of the movie house was the front wall and about 15 feet of the rear end of the building that housed the air conditioner and a storage room. The 317-seat theater and all of' its equipment for showing movies was a total loss.

The fire was caused by a trash fire in an old oil drum on the east side of the theater building, about 15 feet north of the south end of the building. Sparks from the trash fire ignited dead, dried grass around the building. and the flames spread to the theater building.

Mr. Kent noticed smoke in the building when he went to the theater about 8:30 a.m. to see whether the film had arrived for Saturday night's showing. He summoned Ershel Ward, projectionist, who was in a restaurant two doors east of the theater, and the two men went through the theater to the rear of the building. Grass along the east side of the building was aflame and there was a little fire in the wooden framework of the building, next to the ground, but it did not appear to be a serious fire.

The two men went back through the theater to the front end, and Mr. Ward ran across the street and notified Robert J. Hoult, Chrisman fire chief, who was in the Cook drug store. Mr. Hoult brought one of the Chrisman fire trucks to the rear end of the theater building.

“By that time the side of the building was aflame, and I knew we needed more help,” the fire chief said.

Chrisman's second fire truck and 12 to 15 members of the volunteer department responded to the general alarm to battle the morning-long fire.

However, thick clouds of black smoke from burning tar paper hampered the firemen's efforts and allowed the wind to sweep the flames into the interior of the building. “We couldn't even go in with oxygen masks on,” Chief Hoult said.

Calls were put in for assistance from the Metcalf and Ridgefarm fire departments, which soon arrived to add more men and equipment to the battle.

The theater was located between the Chrisman American Legion hall on the west and the Mrs. Katherine Bonwell building on the east. which houses a laundromat, the Toasty Shop restaurant, and apartments above the two stores.

Chief Hoult said the wall between the theater and the Bonwell building was cracked in several places by the intense heat, and probably will require some rebuilding. There does not appear to be any damage to the wall of the Legion building nor to the wall of the I.O.O.F. lodge hall, above the Legion hall. There was considerable smoke and water damage to the Legion hall and some smoke damage to the First National Bank and the Sid Ramey barber shop on the west side of the legion hall. The laundromat, the restaurant, the Yates electrical store, and the apartments were also damaged by smoke.

For a while it looked bad for the entire south side of the square, as the wind threatened to spread the fire to the adjoining buildings. At one time during the battle, Chief Hoult said, nine or 10 hose lines were in use pouring water onto the theater fire and the adjoining buildings. The fire fighters began to pull out their equipment about 11 o'clock after the theater roof collapsed and the fire began to burn itself out.

Following the fire, Mr. Kent said that “the firemen did everything possible to save the theater and should be given lots of credit for preventing the spread of flames to the adjoining buildings.”

The single story frame building was nearly 46 years old, and had served as a movie theater from the time it was built in 1913 in the days of the "nickelodeons."

Mr. and Mrs. Kent purchased the theater in 1955 from George Barber Of Tuscola, who had operated the Empire Theater here from 1932 to 1955. The Kents are also the publishers of THE CHRISMAN COURIER.

For the past 14 months the theater had been open only on Saturdays and Sundays. Projectionists were Ershel Ward and Carroll Calhoun.

Mr. Kent estimated the value of the building and contents at $30,000 to $35,000. The building and contents were only partially covered by insurance, which would not be any where near enough to rebuild the theater after the present indebtedness on the theater is paid off.

During the fire, there was some talk among Chrisman residents watching the blaze to start a community drive to rebuild a movie house for the community.

Mr. and Mrs. Kent said they want to express their sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone who assisted in fighting the theater fire and to everyone who has offered their assistance since the fire. They said they especially want to thank the members of the Chrisman, Ridgefarm, and Metcalf fire departments, to the Cook drug store for providing coffee to the fire fighters, and to City Marshal Otto Nave, State Trooper Drexel Camerer. and the other state troopers who assisted in controlling the traffic during the fire.

The photo is from ancestry.com. The theater owners can be seen at the bottom right, Mrs. Kent in a long coat and Mr. Kent in hat and black jacket.