Friday, May 1, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 6
Liberty Hall thrives through the decades
By Jacob Yeagley Special to the Kansan
Famed journalist Horace Greeley and writer Oscar Wilde spoke there. "Antichrist Superstar" Marilyn Manson, soul man Wilson Pickett, some of the hotest opera divas of the 19th century and blues legend Muddy Waters all performed there.
And Bob Basow, now an associate professor of journalism, recalls eating a lot of popcorn, drinking a lot of beer, and listening to a lot of loud music by the Fabulous Flippers when he was a KU student and the building was run down and known as the Red Dog Inn.
Liberty Hall has survived a major fire and years of physical neglect that caused its decline from elegant opera house to sleazy rock-and-roll venue. It has been refurbished and reborn as one of Lawrence's premier cultural centers for live music and radio shows, independent art films and wedding receptions.
Built in 1911, Liberty Hall was an elegant opera house that mutated into a concert hall, a Hallmark Cards warehouse, a disco and a boxing arena.
The years have not dulled its schizophrenic nature.
"We've had heavy metal concerts one night and church services the next morning," said Tim Griffith, Liberty Hall manager.
Griffith has been involved with the building since it was refurbished in 1985, a process he said was long and difficult.
"The building was in great disrepair," he said. "It needed heating, cooling and new electrical wiring. It was close to being condemned, but two citizens decided to save and remodel it."
The citizens were the late Charles Oldfather, a retired professor of law, and David Millstein, owner of Sunflower Surplus. Their goal was to make Liberty Hall the community and performing arts center it once had been.
It was easy. The theater has played host to many different art forms throughout the years.
Patrons were occasionally offended by the smell of the meat packing plant located in the basement, said Steve Jansen, Director of Watkins Community Museum.
The hall, along with the rest of Lawrence, got a face lift when the wealthy J.D. Bowersock moved to town.
Along with a dam on the Kansas River, Bowersock rebuilt Liberty Hall, adding two stories and naming it The Bowersock Opera House. During the years, the opera house became a regular stopping point for traveling performers, giving Lawrence the cosmopolitan flavor that Bowersock craved.
"The leading of the time came through the Bowersock," Jansen said. "George Nash Walker, one of the first Black entertainers, performed there."
The building, which was also used for high school graduations, KU Dramatics Club performances and band concerts, was destroyed by a fire in 1911.
Bowersock was determined to build an indestructible fortress. He laid new foundations of steel and used reinforced concrete for nearly every inch of the building.
Years later, the federal government acknowledged the building's strength, when it said the building could be used for food storage and a bomb shelter because it could endure nuclear radiation.
The current Liberty Hall building opened in 1912 to great fanfare. The rose-tinted walls, brown-leather seats, stained-glass windows, Circassian-walnut furnishings and sunflower-adorned procenium arch were grand for the small town of Lawrence.
But the days of travelling opera companies were coming to an end as motion pictures became popular. Liberty Hall went through another transformation as it became a movie theater.
It also introduced Lawrence's first talking picture in 1927, said current owner David Millstein.
In 1930, a fire destroyed the interior of the building but, true to Bowersock's word, the outer structure remained unharmed.
Liberty Hall was renovated into the Dickinson Theater and later the Jayhawker, which showed movies until 1956 when the theater closed because of competition from the Granada Theater.
The building lay dormant until 1964 when two fraternity brothers, Mike Murfin and John Brown, bought the building and turned it into the raucous Red Dog Inn.
The stained-glass windows were painted black, the balcony seats were removed to accommodate tables and crude murals were added to the wall.
"There was a painting of a huge red dog. It looked like a cross between Goofy and Pluto and he was holding a gigantic pitcher of beer," Basow said.
Rock-n-roll was becoming a way of life, and the Red Dog Inn was developing a reputation as an excellent concert hall, often packing in 2,000 people.
When I grew up in Minnesota we'd turn on the radio and hear, 'Red Dog Inn-Lawrence, Kansas'!" Jansen said. "It was a big venue and supposedly had the largest draft Budweiser account in the country."
With acts like Ike and Tina Turner, Fleetwood Mac, Wilson Pickett and regional favorites the Fabulous Flippers, the Red Dog Inn became the student hangout of Lawrence.
"A bowl of popcorn and a pitcher of beer at the Red Dog was what life was all about." Basow said.
It was also rumored the Red Dog Inn had the best acoustics west of the Mississippi, a rumor Basow contests.
"Good acoustics was getting your hearing back, it was so damn loud." Basow said.
In 1971 the Red Dog Imm closed and in 1974 the Free State Opera house opened, still booking acts like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The Police and Boid Diddley. In 1983 the building was refurbished.
Oldfather and Millstein bought the property and formed Liberty Hall Inc., named after the original building.
They refurbished the hall and repainted the theater to include stars, comets and planets on the ceiling and various Greek muses on the walls.
Liberty Hall officially opened in 1986, with a live theater production of "The Ballad of Black Jack," featuring Oldfather.
Oldfather and Millstein's dream of live theater wasn't profitable. Liberty Hall began showing independent cinema. To supplement the cost of operation, they brought in concerts and rented the hall out.
Along with Liberty Video, which Millstein thinks has cornered the local market for independent, foreign and hard-to-find films, and the art-house movie screenings,
Liberty Hall. Photo by Anthony Augustus Piazza/KANSAN
the rentals have enabled Liberty Hall to survive.
Millstein admits being nervous about allowing rock concerts and their aggressive audiences in Liberty Hall after the restoration. However, the only problem he recalls was when Morissey appeared last fall.
"He's a vegetarian and somebody had threatened to throw a hot dog at him, so we had to pat down everybody to see if they were carrying any meat," he said.
Big business ventures into town
By Susie Gura
sgrau@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Lawrence is continually growing in population and expanding its limits to become a bustling city.
In 1854, a party of 29 settlers established a town on the south bank of the Kaw River. After their arrival, the town was formally named Lawrence, in honor of Amos Lawrence, a leading supporter of the New England Emigrant society, which had sponsored the migration to Lawrence.
Kansas to the Union as a free state.
Lawrence was founded as a project of the New England Emigrant Aid Society. The aim of this group was to encourage persons with antislavery convictions to settle in Lawrence. This was done in an effort to assure the admittance of
According to the United States Census, taken every 10 years, the population of Lawrence has shown a steady increase in population since 1950. The current population of Lawrence is 78.131.
David Guntert, Lawrence city planner, said the biggest influence on the continual growth of Lawrence was the University of Kansas.
"Our geographic location between the Kansas City metro area and the Topeka metro area is also a large influence," Guntert said.
The easy highway access both east and west, the low cost of living and the recreational amenities are other factors that have contributed to the growth.
Lawrence is primarily growing to the west, Guntert said.
"The direction that Lawrence is moving is due to geographic restraints such as the Kansas River, Wakarua River and the floodplains," Gunert said.
The city of Lawrence is an active community having a great abundance of cultural, ethnic and academic diversity. The city has two major universities located within its city limits. Lawrence is home to both the main campus of the University of Kansas and the Haskell Indian Nations University.
Because of both of these schools, the student population of Lawrence is more than 30,000.
The city has a thriving downtown and is one of the fastest growing communities in the state.
The population of the city grew by 52,738 people in 1980 to 65,608 people in 1990.
By Jeremy M. Doherty idoherty@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The little college town is not so little anymore.
Lawrence is in the midst of a growth spurt, attracting large corporations into its boundaries. Figures released in January by the Institute for Public Policy & Business Research at the University of Kansas showed that job growth is projected to hit 6 percent in 1988.
William Martin, director of economic development for Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the flux of new businesses was only a continuation of growth patterns developing since World War II.
In those years, Lawrence attracted corporations such as Farmland Industries, Quaker Oats and Hallmark Cards into its boundaries.
"Since then, it's been a slow.
steady process to diversify the economy," Martin said.
That process has continued today without showing any signs of slowing. Sauce-Sunstrand, a transmission manufacturer, revealed plans last December to open a $30 million plant later this fall. Sears announced this January their intent to open an outlet store in Lawrence at 2727 Iowa St.
They follow the addition of Borders, the Gap and Abercrombie and Fitch to the Lawrence economy.
"As long as the national economy remains strong, Lawrence will remain committed to creating new jobs." Martin said.
That commitment seems to come at a price. The opening of Borders, 700 New Hampshire St., last December was preceded by the closing of two longtime Lawrence bookstores, Adventure and Terra Nova.
But Martin said other smaller businesses did not have reason to worry.
"One of the goals of the city is to work with smaller or medium-sized firms." he said.
Some of those smaller businesses,
are as old as Lawrence itself.
Tom Wilcox, owner of Round Corner Drugstore, 801 Massachusetts St., said the competition presented by new businesses challenged him to find ways to keep his customers.
"You have to try and decide why you're in business, who're your customers, and why they're coming to you," he said.
These smaller outfits provide the widening community with a link to its past, said Lisa Blair, representative of Downtown Lawrence, a coalition of local businesses.
"They're the cornerstones of what Lawrence is all about," she said. "They have a family atmosphere that reminds people of their youth in the community."
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