PHILIPSBURG – There is about to be a big birthday in Philipsburg.
The Rowland Theatre will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its opening next summer, and plans are already in the works for this historic building that opened June 4, 1917.
Part of that celebration involves restoring the marquee to its original design.
To finance this project, the board of directors is selling bricks that will be placed in the new Rowland Centennial Plaza at the front of the building. These bricks, similar to those sold for a previous fundraiser, will be engraved with names, movie titles or movie memories. The original bricks will remain a part of the new design.
There are approximately 3,000 bricks and it will cost $100 if you want to leave your mark on one of them.
The board had to obtain special permission from the Philipsburg Borough Council for the new/old design, which will extend the glass marquee into the street about two feet. This eliminates two parking spaces and extends the sidewalk.
Rebecca Inlow, one of the board members, explained the original marquee was bigger at a time that the streets were narrower and to restore it required it going out into the current street.
In keeping with the original design, movie and event titles will not be listed on the marquee. Instead a new digital standing marquee will include the information on the happenings in the theater.
If they are able to raise more money than is needed for the project, Inlow said it will be used to do other renovations inside the building.
She hopes the bricks will be laid in the fall and the marquee will be finished in the spring. The engraving of the bricks will be a continual fundraising activity.
The Rowland Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a non-profit organization run by an all-volunteer board of directors.
This nearly 100-year-old theater continues to show current movies at 7 p.m. each night. Inlow credited regular movie goers as “the ones who keep this place going.”
Special events also occur at the theatre, including the recent program featuring three silent movies with the original music performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
This was a rare opportunity to see and hear the films as they were originally designed to be viewed. The three movies were “Cops” with Buster Keaton, “Get Out and Get Under” with Harold Lloyd and “Easy Street” starring Charles Chaplin.
“The audience loved it,” Inlow said.
Rick Benjamin, the conductor of the orchestra, is “a leading researcher of music for silent films,” according to information in the event’s program. He has “unearthed the original orchestral accompaniments to many great motion pictures of 1910’s and 1920’s and has conducted for more than 650 silent film screenings.” This is a current world’s record.
“The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble specializing in the authentic recreation of ‘America’s Original Music’ – sounds of early Broadway, silent cinema and vintage ballroom dancing,” according to the program.
This special silent movie event was made possible by a grant by the National Endowment of the Arts, Inlow said. Money is available for a second event and she said they are already talking about another special silent movie presentation for next year.
“We would like to make 2017 a full year of celebrations,” she said.
Other plans are still being finalized, but should involve an anniversary event in June and a possible dedication ceremony. Inlow is looking into various musical acts and is investigating grants for additional special performances.
Details on the theater’s history will be available in a book that Inlow has taken on the task of researching and writing. It should be ready in 2017.
The Rowland’s history was not always so bright. At one point several years ago, the former owner closed it and it seemed it was the end for the theater, she said. But the borough of Philipsburg stepped in and took it over, preserving this important part of the community.
Currently the operations are overseen by the board and a volunteer manager, Kevin Conklin.
Conklin is another important part of the keeping the theater going, Inlow said. In addition to his regular duties, he is able to complete much of the work needed at the theater, including building a new concession stand.
“He works a full-time job, but he is not paid for this,” she said.
The only paid employees at the theater are the concession workers and a cleaning person.
The building is available for rent for movie parties and other events. It seats 600 people downstairs and has 500 seats in the balcony.
For more information on the Rowland Theatre and the anniversary preparations or to purchase a brick for the new Rowland Centennial Plaza, you can call the theater at 814-342-0477 or contact them through their Facebook page.