2002-21 DESIGNATING A LANDMARK LINCOLN SQUARE THEATRE AND INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS - 141-145 NORTH MAIN STREET

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LINCOLN SQUARE THEATRE chapters of IOOF had the goal of improving and elevating the character of mankind '� through giving aid and pursuing projects that would contribute to this cause. The lower I� level was home to the Emerson Piano House. ', Through the years, especially after the addition of sound to movies, motion pictures took the center stage at the Lincoln and few live productions were performed. While during the 1960's many of the azea movie theaters had to shut their doors due to falling � attendance levels, the Lincoln Theatre survived providing a social and entertainment atmosphere for the people of Decatur. In 1960, the biggest threat to the Lincoln Square T'heatre took place when a fire broke out at a phannacy in one of the commercial retail shops just south of the entrance/lobby to the theater and in front of the actual theater. Just as it was built to do, the firewall protected the theater, as there was no major damage to the actual theater. However, the commercial building structure south of the theater was completely gutted and was torn down. ALso damaged, was the upper floor above the lobby/entrance to the theater. The end result was the buildings south of the entrance were replaced with shorter one-story buildings and the upper level of the entrance/lobby of the theater was not rebuilt. This resulted in a significant loss of architectural design that graced North Main Street. However,the bright side of this was that the actual theater and the IOOF Hall were not dama.ged and the marquee withstood the disaster and still stands today. Also, all of the terra cotta detail on the IOOF Hall remained and shows some of the architecture features that once graced all of the storefronts. At about the same time of the fire,the longtime tenant of the storefront to the north, Emerson Piano Shop, closed its doors. While IOOF remained on the second floor, the retail space on the first floor would go through a number of tenants before the IOOF disbanded and vacated the second floor in 1978. In 1979, the Adult Book and Cinema took over both floors of the storefronts and remained there until it moved to a new location in 1996. As the movie industry would continue to change, large multiplexes began to become more and more popular with moviegoers. In 1980, the Lincoln Square Theatre was stripped of all of its movie projection equipment as the Kerasotes Brothers ended their lease of the property and the theater was closed.' Shortly after though, a group of citizens dedicated to restoring and reusing the theater formed a nonprofit organization to do so called Lincoln Theatre Foundation. Their goal was to use the theater for live acts and entertainment. For the next couple of years, this group was successful in bringing live enterta.inment to the theater that included many local and regionally recognized acts, as well as a few nationally known figures l�ce Vince Gill, B.B. King, and Alabama. However, by 1982 bookings had not gone as well as needed, and theater ceased operating on a full time basis, and only held shows there from time to time. After not being used for some time, in 1986 the Decatur Education Association, Decatur Federation of Teaching Assistants, Decatur Association of Education Office Personnel, and Macon- Piatt Special Education District all used the theater's space for their head�uarters and meetings during their strike that lasted from September 12"'to October 9 . After this 6