Schine’s Theater, a 1936 landmark, comes crashing down

BUCYRUS – The histories of cities, even cities as small as Bucyrus, are necessarily stories of rebirth.

Buildings come down, either by force, by gravity, often by fire, and new buildings come along to take their place, envisioned, designed and ultimately built by new generations of city leaders and residents.

Tuesday was a historic day in the 193-year annals of Bucyrus as the former Schine’s Bucyrus Theater, built in 1936, and shuttered since a fire damaged just a part of the building in 1991, was finally demolished after several days of very careful preparation. There will be no saving it now.

Throughout the sunny and warm day, small crowds mingled with city employees and personnel from the police and fire departments to watch the demolition, which once it got started late Monday evening proceeded very quickly. The bricks of the three-story structure gave way like Tinker Toys.

People had started gathering to watch the building come down days earlier, many of them older residents with memories of the theater. The more determined spectators brought chairs and found a place in the shade. The front of the Bucyrus Tourism and Visitors Bureau was a prime spot.

“I ran into someone last night who said her mom and dad both worked there, courted there and got married. It holds a lot of memories for people, we could share them all day long,” Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser said.

The theater was a deceptively large structure, apparent once you were inside it, and apparent again now that it’s largely been brought down and the dimensions of the property can be seen. The Schine’s Art Park, planned for the site, will have a lot of ground to work with.

And throughout its history the building was home to other businesses, as well. Many residents can recall when it housed an insurance agency. A podiatrist also had an office there for a time.

Over the weekend, a 93-year-old woman came to see the demolition, recalling a beauty salon she used to work at upstairs in the building. On Tuesday, a Galion man remembered when the draft board was located there; his memory of the structure was not an especially fond one.

“The lesson from this is that buildings are an emotional part of our history, it’s like losing a family member. It’s sad that we were forced to tear this down,” Reser said.

“We have to protect our historic buildings, and this one got away from us. I want this to be the very last historic building that we lose. I don’t want this to happen again.”

Aside from the demolition contractors, the one person who has spent the most time at the site on the corner of South Sandusky Avenue and East Warren Street has been Eunice Collene, the project manager for the city, whose hard hat has failed to keep her from getting a beet-red suntan. She was emotional on Tuesday.

“I wish Roger was here to see this,” she said. Mayor Roger Moore died in May of last year.

“He was a big part of it,” Reser said. “There were so many cogs to this, but he was able to secure the state grant to build the park. A lot of things in this town have his fingerprints on them.”

While the contractors made major progress on the demolition Tuesday, the work will now slow down again, as the crumbling wall that abuts Midwest Furniture on the south side of the property will have to be carefully taken down.

The workers are under contract to have Schine’s Bucyrus Theater completely down and sealed off no later than Aug. 11.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ