The State opened on December 28, 1937 with over 800 seats in one huge auditorium. There was a lounge on the east side of the auditorium lines with couches and floor lamps. In one end was the ladies powderpuff room and at the opposite end near the entry there was a grand two tiered fountain surrounded by blue mirrors and filled with gold fish. There was over 6,000 lineal feet of neon in and outside the Art Deco dream. The opening festivities featured chow mein prepared at the Jorgenson Hotel on the corner of Washington and Main. Today the restored marquee and the interior have over 5,400 lineal feet of neon running. Much of the neon was still intact inside the walls and new transformers and total new wiring completed the task. The construction on the nearly 18,000 square foot building began on July 2, 1937 when the Fallon Ford motor dealership was razed. They had actually projected October for the opening date which is amazing for a building this size in that time frame. To put it in perspective we started the renovation on November 14, 2003 and re-opened on September 10, 2005. The marquee and tower was removed from the building in the late 70's or 89's in an attempt to "modernize the facade. When we saw pictures of the original marquee and heard about it from the local residents we understood its importance both architecturally and to the community. The State cost the great sum of $80,000 to build in 1937, when the marquee was completed we wrote a check for almost $78,000 just for the marquee. Originally there were 4 retail stores on street level. On the south side behind the marquee were 4 doctor/dentist offices with a large waiting area and on the east side were the 6 units of State Apartments. The apartments were quite spectacular for the time with phone niches, fold away ironing boards and all were air conditioned. We believe that it was the first totally air conditioned building in Hutchinson. Remnants of the huge "swamp cooler" system are still in place in the basement. The system could lower the temperature of the building over 20 degrees which had to mean a lot in the late summer months. Today there are only two retail locations, one former location is now used for a theatre office and the other is the new elevator lobby. The doctor/dentist offices were converted into 2 apartments some time in the 60's. Our renovation created 4 luxury apartment "lofts" over the theatre. Some of the features are radiant in floor heat, built in laundries in each apartment and some have roof top decks with patios. The building was in bad repair when it closed in 2000 and it got worse once closed. The roof leaked and to make matters worse and wetter, the sprinkler and plumbing systems were not drained. Over the cold months the pipes froze and burst sending torrents of water through the building. This resulted in a massive amount of mold on everything soft or porous in the entire building. There was a huge amount of asbestos and lead based paint and this coupled with decades of used theatre seats, boxes and stuff stored in the building created a need for many 30 yard dumpsters. The clean up took from November 2003 till construction began in March 2004. Thirty dumpsters were filled before construction began, over 85 have been used thus far. There is virtually not a piece of original plumbing in the building and only 60 feet of original wire. The original wire runs between the two original art deco ceiling lights in the entries to the main and balcony theatres. The huge main auditorium was tastefully separated in to two theatres in the 70's and the lounge was converted to a third theatre in the 80's. The main auditorium is still large with seating for 300, the balcony seats over 220 and the lounge can hold over 170. The two large auditoriums are equipped with 7000 lumen LCD projectors to facilitate business meetings and other functions. The theatres main focus is second run films and we hope the community supports our efforts to bring classics to the local screen. Our first attempt at classics is Singin in the Rain, the 1952 award winning musical running November 11 through the 17. The attendance will determine the future of classics at the theatre. Watch this space for enhancements as the web site matures and the virtual tour expands.