By Meredith Desmond, Jayplay writer
In 1985, David Millstein stumbled upon a classified ad in the paper for downtown property that was for sale. Interested, he investigated further and found himself in front of a building on the corner of $7^{\text{th}}$ and Massachusetts.
"When I walked in to answer the ad, it was just kind of a dark pit, essentially, with a boxing ring in it," Millstein says.
Yes, a boxing ring – the only thing really intact in the whole place and belonging to some fraternities that had rented it out to do, well, some boxing. The rest of the building was decomposed. Millstein says the place had been a victim of neglect and abuse for years, with no seats, a stage on the same level as the ground floor, and an interior completely covered in dark black paint. Not exactly a prime piece of property.
So, he bought it.
Millstein and then-partner Charlie Oldfather, retired University of Kansas law professor, invested $280,000 in the disheveled building. They formed Liberty Hall Associates and worked on restoring the venue immediately. The rest is history.
Well, not quite. The rich history of Liberty Hall actually began in 1855, when the building on $7^{\mathrm{th}}$ and Mass. was the printing site of The Herald of Freedom, an abolitionist newspaper. A group of southerners who disagreed with
Lawrence's anti-slavery standpoints destroyed the place in a siege a year later. Not to be defeated, Kansan Samuel Edwin Poole rebuilt the structure and gave it its namesake. By 1870, it was the nucleus of social and political activity in Kansas.
But the people needed to be entertained. In 1883, a renovated and expanded Liberty Hall became the J.D. Bowerstock Opera House, attracting large audiences to its theatre shows. It seemed doomed, though-the whole place was destroyed, again, in 1911 by a backstage fire.
Less than a year later, Liberty Hall as we know it today was complete. The interior was ornate, complete with chandeliers, mosaics, marble, and elegant double staircases. Less attention was given to the property as years went on, and the hall's beauty began to deteriorate. That's where David Millstein comes in. Liberty Hall Associates restored the entire building, inside and out. Millstein did most of the contracting and design himself, bringing in local artists to paint murals on the walls, while Oldfather provided financing. He was able to save some of the original design elements, particularly the chandeliers and stained glass windows.
In 1986, Liberty Hall opened for
business with "Battle of Blackjack," a fitting play about the early abolitionist movement in Kansas. Tim Griffith, who has served as general manager at the hall since then, says original plans of continuing with live theatre fizzled out. Too much competition meant a new plan: the video store opened in 1986, and the upstairs theatre was finished in 1989. Since Liberty's first film played (Akira Kurosawa's Ran), the venue has been home to small independent films, obscure rental movies, and many genres of musicians and live shows - generally providing indie street cred for lots of local bands.
Millstein's find is, as he puts it, "serendipitous", simply answering a classified ad and turning it into this great success. All he wanted for Liberty Hall was to bring it back to its original intention: a venue for the town to entertain itself. He did so by opening it up to concerts and movies - and not, as he says, basing it all on alcohol.
Keep that in mind the next time you're at a live show on the tail end of your fifth beer show, waving a lighter in the air and seriously pissing off that girl in front of you (you're screaming off-key jumbled lyrics right into her ear).
Or, at least look around and appreciate the place for what it's been through.