Galesburg man helping historic theater

GALESBURG - A local man is giving his time, talents and money to help give the Orpheum Theatre much needed plaster renovations, a project expected to last well into next year.

Retired sales representative Gary Morgan reached out to the Orpheum to offer his services to restore the Orpheum to it's original charm.

"It's a floor to ceiling project," Morgan said. "I'd just like to take it back to as close to 1916 as we can get today with the tools we have now. "

Gary sought out Kevin Maynard, executive director of the Orpheum, to spearhead the project.

"Really, what kick-started it was Gary came to a symphony show and he approached me," Maynard said. "He said he loved the building, thinks it's beautiful and noticed some plaster blemishes that he would like to work on."

The theater was in need of renovations due to water damage as well as years of wear and tear. Maynard said the Orpheum hadn't been renovated to this degree since the mid-1980s.

Some spots simply had paint peeling off the walls, like the ceiling of the second floor mezzanine. Others spots were severely torn up.

"In certain instances, if I had to categorize it, I would call it severe, where it went all the way through the wall, to the exterior wall," Morgan said. "The plaster was bad, the concrete was bad."

"There was a spot, going up from the second floor to the balcony, that wall had pretty severe damage when you just looked at it," Maynard added. "When Gary got in there, started scraping around and took out all the weak points, we were down literally to the brick."

One of the most drastic transformations Morgan completed came on the sides of the stage most vulnerable to bumps and bruises while setting up during shows.

The decorative trim on the theater's frame's edges were damaged so severely the original plaster sculptures were falling off.

Morgan said it was projects like that one that caught his attention.

"All this ornate plaster work, and that's what prompted me," Morgan said. "This is very unique, it's historical."

Though Morgan wasn't a professional plasterer before his retirement, he said his attraction to restoring the building comes from his hobby of restoring classic cars.

Morgan has restored 15 cars, including a rare 1950s Ford Thunderbird.

"I don't restore cars just to show them," Morgan said. "I restore them because I want people to enjoy them. I like cruising around in them."

For Morgan, bringing back something from the past for people to enjoy is what it's all about.

"A philosophy of mine has been, they don't make these anymore so we need to do what we can to (restore them). I hope that my participation in this will be just a microcosm so people will notice and say, 'How can I help?"'

Morgan said multiple times he hopes his efforts today will help spur Orpheum support for years to come.

He frequently visits the theater for all types of shows, his favorite being the symphony.

Maynard said the Orpheum is an important piece of Galesburg's history and it's a rare gem in a town like this.

"In modern day standards, a town of this size shouldn't have a theater this size or as ornate as this one," he said. "It's really impressive that Galesburg has been able to keep this place going."

Morgan plans to continue renovations through the fall before taking a break through the winter months. He anticipates it will last well into 2015.

It's unclear how much the work will cost at this point, but Morgan said he's not worried about it.

"I felt that I had the knowledge, the expertise, the capability to renovate what needed to be fixed," Morgan said. "I had the time, had the money, I said I would pay what was needed to do this because operating a place like this, it's usually a pretty tight budget."

So far the costs have been low, since it's just materials. Morgan said it was a "few hundred dollars." The Interior Restoration Project has raised some money for the effort, too.

"I hope we got a lot of the major issues taken care of, and you're talking just a few hundred dollars," Morgan said. "We may uncover more that may turn into a few thousand dollars."

Morgan said the renovations should hold up for decades.

"As we go through this process I'd like it to last 30 years," My hope is, I don't know how often folks visit, but I would like them to come visit as often as they can."