It was a beautiful piece of architecture named The Palace Theatre in the 1920s. According to The Gann Legacy published in the Winter of 1999, it was the product of Charley Womack’s dream. He wanted to have an elegant venue for high-class entertainment. The dream only lasted about a year before Womack sold to someone else with a similar dream. This time the run was even shorter.
The building changed hands several times, becoming a rec center for kids in the mid-40s and a public library from the 60s until 2003. Very recently, the City of Benton has begun a program to renovate South Street from where it meets the Interstate all the way to the downtown area. And coming very soon, there is the very exciting possibility of the….
City utilities offices???
Yes, Benton City Council voted last night (7-3) to allow the Public Utilities Commission to conduct a feasibility study for locating their office under one roof, namely, the roof of the (sigh) Palace Theatre.
Yeah, that’ll spiff up South Street! Woo-hoo! I can’t wait to cruise down that tree-lined path, wondering where to stop and munch on a piece of culture! “Hey, look! There it is on the right!” (gasp!) “It’s the place where I pay my electric bill!”
Seriously folks, I have nothing against Benton Utilities getting organized under one roof (and finding a way to let people pay their bill online), it’s just that I can think of so many other things to do with this historic structure. It’s meant for entertainment, gatherings, events. That’s how it’s laid out. It was born for glamour, style and sashaying in slickery clothing. What about an events center? It would be useful to have place snuggled right downtown, a straight shot off of the Interstate, to have a wedding reception, or perhaps the wedding itself, a sweet sixteen party, a club meeting, a fundraiser, etc. And if the city owns the building already (it does), then the city could make money off the building.
COME ON!! “THE PLACE WHERE I PAY MY ELECTRIC BILL?!”
My suggestion to anyone who is appalled by this news is: go to the meetings! Every other Monday night at the Benton City Council Chambers on East Street (where you pay your electric bill).
Replies to This Discussion
• Brad Moore on October 24, 2007 at 10:06am
Yeah – what she said.
• Renee Taggart on October 24, 2007 at 8:35pm
I’m not a resident of Benton but I used to be and I agree – an events center would be a GREAT idea!
• Katherine on October 28, 2007 at 11:39am
I thought that it was going to be restored to its old beauty. That does not mean putting the Utility Company in an old building just because they all fit. Hey my family would all fit in a storage shed but we don’t live there. I would like to see it used for something for the kids, like it once was. Please do just put things because they fit instead try to make Benton look great like it once did.
• mrsumerian on October 28, 2007 at 2:50pm
Paying my electric bill in an opulent building with large cathedral windows and marble table tops with rich upholstered lounge chairs placed about underneath huge murals of common people using plows and oxen to plant food would make me feel very important. Like, I was really helping someone when I paid my electric bill.
• Shelli Poole on October 28, 2007 at 4:06pm
Mr S, I had a feeling you’d be a ray of sunshine spark of electricity in these discussions.
• mrsumerian on October 28, 2007 at 5:13pm
I’m just waiting for the electrician or someone like him.
• Shelli Poole on October 28, 2007 at 6:57pm
Hey – the movie quotes go in the other section!
• mrsumerian on October 28, 2007 at 8:38pm
Then where do Firesign Theater quotes go?
• Shelli Poole on October 28, 2007 at 9:33pm
I looked, but couldn’t find it.
• mrsumerian on October 28, 2007 at 10:43pm
Ach, Mein Gott in Himmel!
What?
You were thinking, “Oy vas mir!” ?
• Shelli Poole on October 28, 2007 at 11:05pm
You gave me a reverse mohawk with that one.