Vandergrift's Casino Theatre still a beacon of culture after 125 years

The Casino Theatre in Vandergrift could have become anything over the years — a parking lot, like the theater on Longfellow Street did, or maybe basketball courts. Yes, that almost happened.

It even survived a 13-year period of neglect, between 1982 and 1995, after the company that ran it as a cinema pulled up stakes to invest in multiplexes.

Somehow, 125 years later, the historic building is still standing, and still a theater.

That’s thanks to the sheer will of borough officials and a small team of volunteers with the Casino Theatre Restoration and Management group.

The restoration has been going on for 30 years, with the latest project involving masonry and plaster repairs as well as new windows. At least some of that work is being done in the mezzanine.

Funding generally has come from the borough, which leases the theater to the volunteer group for $1 a year, and state grants.

“Just look at it,” said Councilwoman Marilee Kessler, explaining the borough’s continued interest in the Casino Theatre. “It’s the building that people identify with the town.”

The towering white columns and gold lettering on the exterior are hard to miss at the northern tip of Grant Avenue.

The almost 500-seat theater has to be in tip-top shape for a steady stream of concerts, recitals, plays, musicals and movies. A 125th birthday bash on June 21, though, will be as much as about the venue’s against-all-odds persistence as the performers — not that the lineup is anything to sneeze at.

Stand-up comedian Jimmy Krenn, rock comic Mark Eddie and local KDKA radio personality and sports announcer Larry Richert are all on tap that evening.

Some of the other acts that have graced the stage over the years include Mickey Rooney, Roy Rogers, the Three Stooges, legendary boxer Bob Fitzsimmons and composer Hoagy Carmichael.

William H. Taft also made a visit during his post-presidency to discuss the Great War.

Jimmy Stewart visited the theater several times, too, though not as an actor. The Indiana County native would help project movies as a boy from a cramped booth that looks pretty similar to how it did then, save for the old-timey technology.

“There’s a million stories everywhere you go,” said Anthony Ferrante, president of Casino Theatre Restoration and Management.

Kessler joked Ferrante would make a great cult leader, in the kindest sense, for his ability to rally people around a cause. He’s been involved in the restoration since the beginning.

Ferrante recalled a meeting in the 1990s among some borough notables to discuss the Casino Theatre’s future. A theater troupe had recently run shows out of the dilapidated venue with little success.

Everyone wondered: What now?

“Finally, I stood up and said, ‘just restore the damn theater,’” Ferrante said.

And so he did, attracting dozens of dedicated volunteers over the years. Allan Walzak, a restoration group board member and program coordinator for the 125th anniversary, has been by his side all the way. The men share an infectious enthusiasm for the theater and an encyclopedic knowledge of its storied history.

“For a small town, this is an amazing theater,” Walzak said.

Local steel magnate and Vandergrift’s founder, George McMurtry, had the theater built with the goal of bringing recreational opportunities (as well as fewer labor disputes) to his new company town. The building invoked a mix of Shakespearean classicism and turn of the 20th century tastes.

It stands to reason he would still recognize the theater today.