Saving The Stonewall Theatre After It Closed In 1987
As Radio Personality Paul Harvey so often said, “Now, for the rest of the story.”
The Historic Masonic Theatre was built by Masonic Lodge 166 of Low Moor, and 1905 is engraved on the historic building’s cornerstone that has a chip about the size of a tennis ball missing, not bad for a building that is more than a century old.
Built as a meeting hall and opera house, the words, “Masonic Theatre” remain near the top of the theatre’s front.
So, how did the building wind up being named the Stonewall Theatre?
It has been reported that the new owner, Irwin R. Cohen, who purchased the theatre in 1968, stood looking at the theatre from across Main Street and observed, “Look, the old theatre is standing there like Stonewall Jackson!”
The theatre was built at a cost of $42,000, but when Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) received the building as a charitable donation from Cohen, the owner of R-C Theatres in Reisterstown, Md., the theatre had been appraised for $125,000 for its historic value and $75,000 for its commercial value.
AAA, a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofit corporation, raised $5,600 to have the required historic appraisal of the building completed by Durrer Appraisals of Roanoke, and John Wayne Anderson, president of R-C Theatres, presented the keys to the theatre to AAA on Dec. 20, 1991.
The Starlink Remote Control Broadcast truck from WDBJ-TV in Roanoke was parked in front of the Stonewall Theatre, and the event was televised. The physical condition of the theatre had deteriorated during the four years that it had been vacant as a twin-cinema, and the cameraman could see his own breath clouding up inside the theatre.
The theatre’s pipes had frozen and burst, the boiler was cracked, the gas furnaces were not working and mold and mildew had spread from seat to seat. During the presentation of the handing over of the keys, while the TV camera was on, cold prevailed inside the theatre where Anderson wore a winter coat and scarf.
His words were, “If Appalfolks saves one person from ruining his life because of drugs, then this gift is worth it.”
AAA was founded in Clifton Forge in 1985 to promote the literary and performing arts while advocating for drug-free creativity.
Having drained its treasury by paying for the historic appraisal, AAA turned to fundraising and recruiting volunteers to help restore the theatre that had many broken windows, window frames that were in need of repair, restrooms that needed remodeling, carpets that needed cleaning, and numerous repairs that needed to be completed prior to reopening the theatre as a performing arts theatre.
R-C Theatres had purchased the theatre in 1968 and converted it from a theatre with a single screen to a twin cinema. In doing so, a thick, soundproof wall had been constructed to conform to the proscenium arch, and the stage area had been converted to a seating area facing the west wall where a screen had been erected. A new projection booth was situated above the stage on the east wall, and an entranceway from the lobby had been constructed with soundproof walls leading to the seating area on the stage.
After AAA formed the Save the Stonewall Committee to help raise funds and recruit volunteers, the cleanup began. ACE Hardware, operating as Northwest True Value Hardware at the time, came to the rescue as its owner approved Manager Tom Janney’s recommendation for the business to donate 100 percent of all the pipes, fittings, and hardware items needed to make repairs throughout the theatre.
The late Butch Swoope, who owned and operated Swoope Plumbing, Heating & Air-conditioning, volunteered a year of free labor to provide all of the theatre’s plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning needs.
A crew of volunteers tackled the mold and mildew problem, and all the seats were carefully cleaned while carpenters volunteered and made repairs as well, replacing broken windows throughout the building while volunteers painted on the inside what was needed.
The late Lanier Smith repaired many of the windows throughout the building, and the late Jack Kimberlin provided his dump truck free of charge for cleaning out the basement where the flood of 1985 had ruined replacement seats and many other items that were left caked with mud. The water ring around the basement walls measured nearly three feet.
Steve Carter, the Clifton Forge City Manager, authorized the Clifton Forge Fire Department to help by cleaning out the gutters and spraying off the dirt from the brick walls.
Ronnie Harlow and the last Boyd Muterspaugh, Dale’s father donated their time to repair whatever electrical work needed to be done along with others who came later to volunteer.
Volunteers cleaned out the basement and filled the dump truck four times for Kimberlin’s driver to haul away the debris.
The low bid to remove the soundproof wall that prevented anyone in the main auditorium from seeing what was happening on stage was $2,800. Unable to afford to pay that amount, AAA recruited the Sharon Fire Department via Dale Muterspaugh’s volunteerism, and the volunteers arrived one day with chainsaws and scaffolding.
By the end of the day, AAA had purchased $50 worth of food and coffee to feed the volunteers, and the workers had removed the wall piece by piece without harming the proscenium arch. Only one piece of the wall fell that day and damaged some boards on the stage below, an easy fix.
By May of 1992, the Historic Stonewall Theatre held its first event on stage, and The Announcers with Dale Muterspaugh as one of its vocalists performed a benefit concert for AAA that raised more than $500.
Continuing to make incremental repairs, AAA formed The Stonewall Players, a troupe of 10 actors and actresses. Some were musicians and vocalists, and the troupe, along with some other performers that they recruited, performed “A Musical Tribute to the Railroad,” that featured retired railroad workers filing down both aisles in their work clothes while they sang, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” an American folk song.
For the next 12 years, AAA made more restoration improvements to the theatre, including new curtains for the stage that had no curtains, a counterweight system for lowering and raising scenery, new furnaces to reduce heating costs, new air-conditioning units, and heat pumps. All of those improvements were made possible by a $130,000 grant proposal to The Alleghany Foundation that was approved for $91,000 with AAA responsible for matching the rest by raising $39,000.
It took AAA a year to match the grant, and one donor from San Diego contributed $1,000 and another from Long Beach, Calif. donated $1,000 as well. Dominion Energy donated $5,000, and donations came in from Kentucky in the amount of $5,000. A donor from Roanoke added $5,000, and the total of $17,000 of the $39,000 came from outside of The Alleghany Highlands.
Raffles were held, benefit concerts staged, a radio-a-thon conducted and many other fundraising events organized to raise the funds needed. Once funded, the grant provided funding for painting the outside of the building in addition to the infrastructure improvements. Green and tan paint were chosen based on the color of the theatre when it was first erected.
Another grant proposal was funded via the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the $30,000 was used to continue the restoration improvements that were being made.
The top floor of the theatre was sanded and painted, and AAA helped to pay its bills by operating the Stonewall Dance Academy that held classes in ballroom dancing, line dancing, and folk dancing. Also, karate classes were held in the ballroom as well.
AAA borrowed $25,000 from the First National Bank to remodel the restrooms to bring them into ADA compliance, a loan that AAA eventually paid off.
Nationally prominent acts were contracted to perform in the theatre, and $36,000 worth of tickets for AAA’s shows were sold in 1996. Two years prior to that, Bob Campbell and the Coachmen set an attendance record in the theatre when 510 patrons purchased tickets that resulted in a $2,800 gate.
Also, AAA developed the following programs that helped bring in the necessary revenue to pay the bills: The Virginia Opry, Special Theatrical Artists Revue & Showcase (STARS), The Stonewall Children’s Theatre, The Southern Gospel Revue, Performance Series for Students, Opry of the Virginias and The Clifton Forge Players.
Some of the famous performers who performed for AAA during its 12 years of ownership are as follows: Bill Pinkney’s Original Drifters, Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group, Goose Creek Symphony, Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen, and the Easter Brothers.
Also, students from as far away as Harrisonburg were bussed in to see many of the drama productions that AAA presented, ones by Lime Kiln Arts, Theatre IV, Poetry Alive, and the Mid-Ohio Valley Ballet.
After 12 years of productions and more than $200,000 worth of restoration improvements made to the Historic Stonewall Theatre, AAA donated the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge in 2003 in exchange for the right to stage between six and 16 productions per year via a profit-sharing agreement in the contract. Also, the contract provided AAA free storage for its theatrical equipment and a free office to occupy in the theatre.
AAA continued to operate the concession stand and provided the Town of Clifton Forge with sound and lighting equipment free of charge for its productions while helping maintain the theatre until AAA was no longer needed.
The historic marker on Main Street near the theatre makes no mention of the contributions that AAA made and skips from the 1987 closing to the restoration that began in 2015 and was completed for a cost of $6.9 million in 2016.