Historic State Theatre building to be restored by the city of Benton Harbor

 

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – After sitting vacant since 2007, the old State Theatre in downtown Benton Harbor is set to be restored by the city.

“It was a gift,” explained Richard Hensel, the President of Benton Harbor’s Downtown Development Authority. “We were very fortunate to receive a gift from the owner, who’s had it for a number of years, and he wanted to see us put it back together and get it back into use.”

Built in 1942, the State Theatre has been many different things over its 80-year history, existing as a movie theater, concert venue and even the home for an after-school program for the city’s youth.

Hensel has many fond memories associated with the building, from taking in a movie there in the 1970s to even using the space for community activism.

“One of the community fundraisers that we did was for the Women’s Community Association, at the time, to fund a hotline for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens,” Hensel said. “That fundraiser turned out to be much more successful than we planned, and with a little grant writing, we ended up with, what turned out to be the Out Center.”

He hoped that by restoring the building that it will help to continue the city’s plan to attract more people and businesses into downtown Benton Harbor.

“This is an exciting, new development in that section of downtown, which is relatively underutilized at this point. So we’re hoping it can be a catalyst for other things,” he said.

But first, there’s still a great deal of work that needs to be done, before the neon lights come back on.

“Well, it needs some roof repairs right now, which we’re prepared to do shortly,” said Hensel. “We’re gonna have an architectural firm do a survey for us, and make sure that everything is structurally the way it appears to be, and then decide from there what we need to do to improve it.”

Hensel added that $100,000 has been donated to help with those needed repairs, but that’s not enough to foot the whole bill; over the next several months, they’re going to be hosting fundraisers to cover the restoration costs.