Empire Theater
109 E. 2nd Avenue,
Lind,
WA
99341
109 E. 2nd Avenue,
Lind,
WA
99341
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Someone has taken their drone to Lind and has some nice footage of the town, including the Empire Theater:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLtIz8kTbVo
The Empire footage starts at about 02:30.
I neglected to mention above that Lind is a near ghost town. Population is today about 450, about 1/3 of it’s peak in the 1950’s. The town’s High School closed about 2 years ago and the students are now bussed to Ritzville some 20 miles away. It is in the middle of wheat farming country, the grain elevator is the busiest place in town. Lind is a time capsule of the past, very little has changed since the departure of the Milwaukee Railroad in the early 1970’s.
I was in Lind in September, the exterior of the Empire Theatre building is in very good condition. No graffiti, no broken windows. Renovations were started in 2007 or so (new double pane windows, etc.) but have been abandoned. There is a sign in the window stating that the building has been winterized and the water shut off in the Fall of 2010. The building once housed a diner and had a hotel on the second floor. It is my understanding that the theatre closed in about 1980. It remains vacant today. A local citizen told me that the interior is in “disrepair”. The booth equipment was purchased and removed in the early-mid 1990’s by McRae Theatre Equipment in Seattle. It was a complete and intact 1950’s vintage carbon arc booth, very little had changed since it’s opening.