Sorry to report that the theatre caught fire (don’t know why or how) Saturday, November 9th, just before 11:00 a.m. Smoke roiled out of the building for about a half an hour, then flames came shooting out of the top. Fire departments from lots of places were there including: Thayer, Rover, Howell Valley, Kosh and West Plains. Lots of firemen, policemen and paramedics were on the scene. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
By the time the firemen were able to get into the front door, the floor was already compromised. There were huge, heavy wooden pews in the theatre which helped cave in the floor. They firemen went in the back structure but could not see anything due to the heavy smoke.
It’s really a shame that this old 110 year old building went up in flames. Gene and Peggy Boren had the building since 1995 and spent countless hours repairing it including adding a balcony for sound systems, new electrical wiring, adding more bathrooms, updating the plumbing, remodeling the kitchen area, paving the parking lot, reworking the drainage system and on and on. It was a labor of love but it cost some dollars too. They wanted to bring music to the area and held many years of Friday night concerts. The last concert was this Friday night starring Leroy New of Branson and the building never looked better. Last weekend we had a team of people come in and clean up the back area and the main hall. The last concert can be ssen by going to ustream.tv and using jamiemike as the channel.
Here is a video showing when the smoke pouring out.
And this video shows the flames.
This video shows the theatre continuing to burn and shows Gene Boren talking about it.
More video of the fire.
And here are photos toward the end.
Boren Community Center 