Who else could take $1.00 and turn it into a million dollar building that will stand the test of time, as it has in the past. And so the building stood and it was the one stabilizing factor in a community torn by war and strife. Events were brought to the Harrington Opera House during The Great Depression that brought joy during the broken economy. She saw two World Wars and several smaller ones, only to watch our soldiers leave and some not come back. Always, she was the strong two story building on the corner. It is truly a labor of love for this wonderful historic structure that holds so much history in our small town. And we did have some setbacks, but we never gave up. The rest came from donations, events, memorials and memberships.įor every step back, we went two steps forward. The actual cash spent on the building is over $720,000.00 of which $347,290.00 has been grants.
Professional groups have donated over $84,000 in their labor.
Donations of items valued at over $90,000 have been given as in-kind items. Of the in-kind hours I have been able to record, over 15,000 hours of sweat and hard work brings us to where we are today. We have never had a paid staff, we have never paid our members to do any work, and we were not afraid of hard work. We have had our ups and downs, but we have done something that is very rare in this day and age. Douglas Rudkoff, the building was purchased for $1.00 and our work began.
Others had a dream, and with the help of Ms. Some shook their heads and said “impossible”. The roof was gone, rooms were in a shamble and there was a 3 foot snow drift in the auditorium. As I reflect on the previous 12 months, my thoughts go back 25 years ago this week when a group from Harrington and Davenport met to discuss the possibility of restoring the Harrington Opera House. The year 2016 is now behind us and 2017 lays before us. The Harrington Opera House Society "Annual Reports" were presented Januas part of the monthly business meeting at 7 pm in The Art Room of the Harrington Opera House.