This empty lot in 3rd St. is where the McCleary Theater once stood. It burned around 2003.
Too many stories to fit in here. It stopped running movies in the late 1960s, I think, and became an auction hall in the early 1970s. A professional auctioneer named Virgil if I remember was quite a draw. Eventually he moved on and others ran the auction, but none of them had the skill of the first guy in terms of entertainment. By 2003 the old swayback building had become an eyesore.
Built in the 1920s, the building's most historic role was serving as a convention center in 1942 after Henry McCleary sold his company town to Simpson, who in turn insisted the people here incorporate into a municipality. It was here the people divided themselves into two local parties and nominated their first candidates for public office.
So while the young men of McCleary were serving in the military to protect democracy, the folks back home were trying to form one.
