{"id":828,"date":"2017-08-09T09:42:24","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T14:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/?p=828"},"modified":"2018-12-10T12:04:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:04:58","slug":"ware-auditoriumgrand-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/ware-auditoriumgrand-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Ware Auditorium\/Grand Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_section et_pb_section_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_section_regular et_block_section\" >\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_row et_pb_row_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_block_row\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_d4_element et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et-last-child et_block_column\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><strong>Ware Auditorium\/Grand Theater<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_1  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><em>Joy Riggs<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_text et_pb_text_2  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>The Ware Auditorium on the corner of Washington and Fourth Streets has been a hub of the Northfield entertainment scene for more than a century. Now known as the Grand Event Center, it was built in 1899 by A.K. Ware.<\/p>\n<p>Ware served as mayor from 1902 to 1905 and was the main stockholder in the Northfield Light, Heat and Power Plant. His most tangible contribution to the town was building a grand \u201copera house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Northfield\u2019s first permanent opera house was an unassuming hall above Lockwood\u2019s shoe store on Division Street. When Ware announced his intent in 1899 to build a grander facility, public response was so favorable that he scrapped his original plans in favor of an even more elaborate building. It cost more than $20,000.<\/p>\n<p>Designed by Minneapolis architect Harry Carter, the red brick auditorium was built in the Federal Revival Style. The auditorium could seat nearly 800 people; it had orchestra seating on the floor, a balcony with gallery seating behind it, two first-floor proscenium boxes, and two balcony boxes.<\/p>\n<p>The auditorium opened the day after Christmas in 1899. A traveling troupe presented The Red Cockade, a romantic comedy set during the French Revolution. People from Minneapolis and St. Paul came by train for the show.<\/p>\n<p>Four months after it opened, the building was gutted by fire and quickly rebuilt.<\/p>\n<p>In 1910, Ware put the building up for sale. When no buyers came forward, he closed the auditorium and moved out of town.<\/p>\n<p>A group of Northfield citizens purchased it in 1912, and it served a final stint as an opera house until Everett Dilley bought it in 1917. He reopened it as the Grand Theater, a place where Northfielders could watch silent films accompanied by a five-piece orchestra. The Grand was the largest and most elaborate of several silent movie theaters in Northfield during this time.<\/p>\n<p>Dilley sold the theater in 1927, and the new owners moved the entrance to Fourth Street and added an electric sign. Two years later, they installed the equipment needed to show talkies. In August of 1929, Leo\u2014the lion who roared at the beginning of MGM\u2019s films\u2014visited the theater.<\/p>\n<p>Dilley repurchased the Grand in 1933 and sold it after World War II to Ervin D. \u201cDinger\u201d Olsen, a St. Olaf graduate, who updated the theater screen and projectors. The theater changed hands several times in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. In 1985, owner Tom Doughty shuttered the Grand when he built a three-screen theater on Highway 3 in Northfield.<\/p>\n<p>The building got a new lease on life in 1997 and now hosts receptions, parties, concerts, and community meetings.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_d4_element et_pb_gallery et_pb_gallery_0  et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_gallery_grid\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"et_pb_gallery_items et_pb_grid_items et_post_gallery clearfix\" data-per_page=\"4\"><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_item et_pb_grid_item et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode et_pb_gallery_item_0_0\"><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_image landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ware_Auditorium.jpg\" title=\"Ware Auditorium\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"284\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ware_Auditorium-400x284.jpg\" alt=\"Ware Auditorium from the street.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ware_Auditorium.jpg 479w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ware_Auditorium-400x284.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw\" class=\"wp-image-829\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"et_overlay\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><h3 class=\"et_pb_gallery_title\">Ware Auditorium<\/h3><p class=\"et_pb_gallery_caption\">The Ware Auditorium in about 1900.\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_gallery_pagination\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1712,"featured_media":829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downtown-northfield"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1052\/2017\/08\/Ware_Auditorium.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":830,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions\/830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/nfldhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}