Princess to be South Pittsburg’s ‘crown jewel’

SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. — Remodeling work at the Princess Theatre continues as contractors pour concrete and build walls to remodel the landmark to something surpassing its 1920s glory.

Leatherwood Inc. was awarded the $590,000 contract for the initial phase of restoration this summer after the South Pittsburg Historic Preservation Society received last-minute donations to cover a $65,000 shortfall in funding for the company’s low bid.

Mike Hendrix, Leatherwood’s project manager, said phase one work should be wrapping up in March.

“We’ve got the stage poured, all the roughed-in plumbing has all been run in,” Mr. Hendrix said. The new stage is much larger than the old one and will be better suited to stage performances, he said.

But funding problems still loom for the first phase of the project that now is in its eighth year, said Joe Goeller, the society’s vice chairman and project manager for the theater.

“The problem that we have is there are always contingencies that come up,” Mr. Goeller said. “We’re coming up short.”

Fire code requirements, unforeseen changes in work and rising material and equipment costs boosted the first phase’s expense by $30,000 to $50,000, he said. Modern projection equipment could cost as much as $100,000.

The contact with Leatherwood is fully funded and the theater will be usable by April’s National Cornbread Festival, he said. But the first phase might not be as complete as hoped, possibly lacking equipment that would make the Princess a “full-blown theater,” he said.

The Princess Theatre opened in 1921 as the “Imperial,” soon renamed the “Palace.” The first show was a silent film, “Tank Town Follies,” starring South Pittsburg native Jobyna Ralston. The theater’s last movie played in the 1980s.

In the late 1990s, city officials condemned the building and bought it, the society’s online records show. Some early work was done with more than $200,000 in donations to pay for steel supports and repairs to the roof and exterior walls.

South Pittsburg Mayor Mike Killian said he is pursuing a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan to help complete the project.

“I will do everything in my power to try to help finish it,” Mr. Killian said. “This will be a much nicer facility than’s ever existed there before.”

Although the intent isn’t to restore the building to its original look, the more modern version “will mean a greater draw to our downtown area,” he said. “That would be the crown jewel.”

Across the street at Hammer’s Department Store, head cashier Fran Thomas smiled with anticipation and memories of the revitalized South Pittsburg landmark.

“We’re excited about it,” said Ms. Thomas, 78. “That was our entertainment on a Saturday afternoon — a matinee.”

She and her friends usually walked several blocks to see westerns and adventures and, more importantly, to see each other, she said, glancing through Hammer’s front windows toward the Princess.

Young people would go to an ice cream shop that was once across the street from the theater which served as the gathering place after the movie, said.

“You could buy popcorn for five cents and a Coke for a dime. You can’t do that anymore,” she said. “It was some good old days. I’ve got a lot of memories over there.”