Joseph H. Lebowsky Center
122 E. Main Street,
Owosso,
MI
48867
122 E. Main Street,
Owosso,
MI
48867
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 41 comments
The opening of the Capitol Theatre was noted in this item from The Moving Picture World of April 10, 1926:
The Lebowsky Center’s marquee has been restored with new LED lighting and electronic attraction boards which mean no more using a ladder to change the program.
Please change the seating capacity of the Lebowsky Center to 550. The reason for the reduced capacity is an enlarged lobby and more leg room with the new stadium seating.
The reconstruction is finally completed. http://www.abc12.com/story/25432667/renovations-now-complete-at-lebowsky-center-after-2007-fire
Reconstruction of the theater’s interior is finally underway.
NORTHWEST TRAIL had its world premiere at the Capitol in late 1945: http://www.boxoffice.com/the_vault/issue_page?issue_id=1946-1-12&page_no=119#page_start
The correct spelling of the architect’s surname is Bachmann.
Financing is now in place to allow for the interior of this theater to be restored.
As part of the theater’s restoration, the OCP agreed to retain the red tiles and the 1950s marquee because that is part of the facade’s history.
Really clean and nice looking marquee.
Thats good news.
No arrest has been made yet regarding the arsonist. In the meantime, the theater is being rebuilt.
A postcard depicting Owosso’s Capitol Theatre from the early 1940s.
Don…
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c97us7
A photo of the Lebowsky Center interior, taken a month before the fire during The Home Depot makeover, is at View link
That does sound like a pattern there, Gary, while let me ask, is any new type of industry about to be introduced there, such as a gambling casino or something? Or, has there been a sharp new change in political leadership perhaps? I have seen this type of pattern before, such as in the New Jersey seaside resort of Ocean City (10 miles to Atlantic City’s south) when Atlantic City went the way of casinos and Ocean City was targetted to be a bedroom community for it. I also saw it in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time its highly corrupt political machine — the one that’s in place today — rose up. And fires related to that are still going on in Philadelphia, which is soon to be getting casinos.
On the other hand all the fires you list might be totally unrelated, especially if there’s no sort of singular catalyst to tie them all together that way. And in Owosso’s case the burned structures ARE getting rebuilt, which totally contrasts the patterns I’ve seen. But that in itself is a pattern; first a fire, and then the building gets rebuilt. Of the one or two times I have seen that, it was clearly a case of ownership arson each time.
In any event, if they do eventually catch whoever torched the Lebowsky Center, maybe then they’ll find out if there was link between all the arsons or not.
Whoops! Just after I wrote my last comment, another big suspicious fire, this one fatal, struck a three-story building just kitty corner from the Lebowsky Center. You can read that news story at View link and at View link There were two other fires before the Lebowsky Center one. Nearby, the Capitol Bowl bowling alley was destroyed in a 2006 fire and has been rebuilt. In 2005, an almost century old factory building was also destroyed by fire.
There haven’t been other arsons like this I’m aware of in the Owosso area. I hope Phase Two of the rebuilding includes installation of a sprinkler system.
Well that’s unsettling. Have there been other arsons that fit this same pattern, or was this the only one? If the answer is the latter, I would presume/hope that factor is being factored in in the rebuilding of this theater so it can’t happen again, while I still hold out hope they catch the guy.
They still don’t know who did it or why.
That sounds like relatively good news — I say “relatively” because I would have much preferred what was still left of the original historic structure been fully restored in every single instance. But hey, in an era when doing away with theaters completely has become so standard, who can be too critical in this instance?
But in this case did they ever find out who the arsonist was and what the motivation was, or is that much still left hanging in the air?
It was announced on Wednesday, June 27 that the Lebowsky Center will be rebuilt! The OCP will need to raise $100,000 to start the rebuilding process. Most of the Phase One rebuilding will be covered by insurance. Phase One involves building new walls, a new roof, new exterior doors along Park Street, restoring electrical systems, basic lighting and a new roof heating system. They plan on beginning construction in July with the theater completely enclosed by the time winter sets in.
More photos:
http://www.shiawasseehistory.com/capitol.html
Here is the Cinema Treasures link to the Capitol:
/theaters/3831/
and the Capitol Theatre itself:
http://www.capitoltheatre.org/
I recall that there was a fire in the City-owned Capitol Theatre ij Yakima, WA. That huge fire was started by a welder’s torch who was actually working on the theatre’s restoration.
The damage to that theatre was very similar to the Lebowsky. There was a slide show for the Yakima theatre showing the damage and the restoration. From the photos, you would never know that magnificent Priteca-designed theatre had ever been destroyed.