Images of the Past | The Sioux Falls State Theater | Season 7 | Episode 2

- [Narrator] The State Theater in Sioux Falls provides a great example of something that was nearly lost, made good as new.

It's a classic story of interested individuals working together toward the common goals of preserving history and adding a bit more vigor to an already thriving downtown entertainment scene.

A years-long, multi-million-dollar renovation of the old theater was complete enough at the end of 2020, for the theater to re-open as a movie house, after 30 years of little or no use.

- You know, ever since it shut down, multiple individuals and organizations have tried to get the State Theater up and running.

And everything that they've done in their efforts helped us get to where we are today.

The main floor of the auditorium is open.

We have 165 seats in there for people to come in and watch films, at a reduced capacity, of course, today.

(vintage jazz music) - [Narrator] The State Theater has been a downtown icon for 90 years.

Construction of the State Theater began in 1925 on the site of the old Iron and Wood Butcher Shop on Phillips Avenue.

The theater was intended to be ornate and impressive inside and out.

Theater owners of the day believed that the feeling of being well-treated in a unique and comfortable venue is an integral part of the overall entertainment experience.

Then, as now, most people don't live in opulent surroundings and a brush with elegance can be a treat.

- It originally opened as a vaudeville and a silent movie theater.

But it was really, you know, the jewel or the queen, I've heard it called in some articles, of downtown.

It was a really special space.

- [Narrator] The State was one of several movie theaters operating in downtown Sioux Falls after 1926.

Over the course of 65 years of operation, it kept going, even as movies and movie-going audiences changed.

It even kept going when multiplex theaters began popping up in and around shopping malls during the 1970s.

But competition from multi-screen theaters owned by big-name operators, finally put an end to the State and all the other movie theaters in Downtown Sioux Falls.

The slow decline was amply evident in the condition of the State Theater when it closed in 1990.

A fire that destroyed an adjacent building in 1991 spared the closed State Theater, but also left it with an uncertain future.

The building sat vacant and abandoned for the next 10 years.

Then, in 2001, the Sioux Falls Film Society purchased the building and repaired the roof.

Talk of converting the building to office space, or even tearing it down, prompted the establishment of the non-profit Sioux Falls State Theater Company, which bought the building and began planning the restoration.

A mix of public and private funding, including a sizable gift from philanthropist Denny Sanford, has amounted to about four million dollars worth of structural upgrades and cosmetic restoration, leading up to 2020.

- [Allison Weiland] We were able to do all of our light and safety upgrades, sprinkler systems, tuckpointing, just making sure the foundation of the building is set.

And that is a huge bill and undertaking, especially in fundraising.

Not many people wanna donate for a new HVAC system.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] With the bones intact, the focus of the restoration moved to the skin.

- [Allison Weiland] It's very ornate and beautiful.

The color scheme, we were really happy with.

You know, you can't look at a photo from 1926 and know what your color scheme is.

So we hired Conrad Schmidt, out of Wisconsin, and they come back and they peel back all the layers of paint to see what was there originally.

From the stencil to just the basic color of the floor and the wall.

And was this wood?

Oh, it is wood!

I mean, there was some pleasant surprises.

They really are detectives.

They were able to find an old rag with little specks of blue on it that was shoved in the corner in the organ chamber, and that's the blue they had been looking for.

So we were able to match that.

And it's all these really unique and interesting stories that make the State Theater so unique.

- [Narrator] After hosting several fundraising events and a celebratory gala, the theater once again opened to the movie going public in December of 2020, showing a few holiday favorites, some classics, and a couple of current films.

Re-opening during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant some adjustments to the before-time movie experience.

- We are being very safe, as safe as we can.

Masks are required in the theater, unless you're eating or drinking.

We're sanitizing after each performance.

We have all the tools to do that.

We're following the CinemaSafe guidelines that are founded by the National Association of Theater Owners, taking the right precautions at concessions, and encouraging people to buy their tickets online and to bring their phones, as opposed to having a paper ticket.

- [Narrator] Audiences in the main auditorium won't see that there's still some work to be done.

The upstairs mezzanine and office spaces are works in progress.

The balcony seats are on a to-do list.

The State Theater Company still has possession of the original theater's majestic Wurlitzer organ, but it's out of sight, and its restoration is a bit farther out on the horizon.

- These are big projects, and our work is not done, but this is a huge milestone for the whole community.

- [Narrator] For more information about the State Theater and the list of movies and showtimes, go to siouxfallsstatetheater.org.

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