Village Squire, 1973-09, Page 13The Great Hall Debate
... or "will the county's
best theatre survive?"
v:
While the "great wall debate" and
"the great mall debate" in Goderi-h
have been grabbing the headlines in
the past year, just down the road the
"great hall debate' has been simmering
almost unnoticed by most people in
the area.
The battle over the county's plan
to tear down one of the walls of his-
toric Huron County Jail won a lot of
public ity in the early part of the spring
and was followed during the summer
by the fight between the downtown
merchants in Goderich and people who
wanted to see a new $2 million shop-
ping mall built on the outskirts of the
town. Radio and television and the
daily newspaper kept almost daily
track of the arguments and counter
arguments.
But over. in Blyth, just 18 miles
away, a debate almost as hot and hea-
vy went on quietly with few people
beyond the boundaries of the commu-
nity knowing about it.
The issue revolves around Memorial
Hall, a huge building erected follow-
ing World War 1 as a memorial to the
men who fell from Blyth and neighbour-
ing Hullett, Morris and East Wawanosh
townships.
Architecturally, the building is one
of the most pleasant of the "town halls"
in the county with a sort of Grecian
style of ba 'nce architecture. But
unlike the figh over the jail wall which
was fought by architecture buffs and
historians, it wasn't the ')eauty of the
building that caused the fight. It was
a beautiful 520 seat theatre upstairs in
the building.
When the building v, as erected in
the early 1920's the theatre war the
centre of attraction. The big stage
with its width of 40 feet and depth
of 20 was the most modern and largest
around. Vaudville shows and touring
plays brought full houses in the aud-
itorium which had comfortable mol-
ded wooden seats and a sloped floor
which afforded good sight lines for
everyone in the audience whether
in t..e main floor or the balcony.
Acoustics were very true for both
drama and music.
The auditorium remained the focal
point of the building and the comm-
unity for many years. But the coming
of television began to kill local live
theatre just as it did movie houses.
From the early 1950's on the theatre
lapsed into disuse. Mary people al-
most forgot it was there.
With lack of use came disrepair.
By 1972 people didn't like being in
the building even on the few occasions
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