New life for an old building
Community of Fountain Green looks to the future by rebuilding the past
By Susan Whitney
Deseret News, 15 November 2004
Summary:
Fountain Green Theatre and Dance Hall:
early history and store:
- built in 1918 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- the LDS Church sold property in 1944 to Ivin Rasmussen
- Rasmussen kept operating the theater and dance hall until 1950, “when television changed the way people spent their evenings”
- Rasmussen turned the dance hall into a general store
- Rasmussen would give each customer a little white mint from a big candy jar on the counter
- store closed in 1976
theater:
- was boarded up after closing in 1950
- had an orchestra pit, where a pianist played for silent movies
- heated by potbellied stoves along the walls of the room
- showed silent movies, then talkies
- curtain had ads for banks and mills and furniture stores
restoration:
- Fountain Green Heritage Committee suggested restoring the old dance hall/theater in 1998
- 300 people, nearly half the population of the area, volunteered on the project
- dance hall received one of nine annual Heritage Awards for preservation, awarded by the Utah Heritage Foundation in November 2004
- Heritage Committee president Russ Evans approached Rasmussen's descendants in 1998 about donating the property to the city
- Heritage Committee wanted to restore the theater for plays and movies, and the dance hall for receptions, reunions, and dances
- volunteers piled up the rotted wood from the floor and ceiling and started a bonfire
- volunteers used a high-pressure hose on the walls and discovered the original green-and-red stencil design 14 feet above the floor
- Denice Aagard overcame her fear of heights to repaint the stencil design
operation:
- estimated annual operating cost for the entire building is $13,400
- dance hall rents for $200 per reception
- plan to borrow movies from the Brigham Young University film library for little or no cost
- the dance hall has been busy every weekend since opening, with family reunions and at least a dozen wedding receptions