“I remember hearing someone say that these buildings like the old Fox are national treasures and that they actually belong to the community and that the owners are just caretakers,” Shaw said. “That’s always stuck with me and we’ve tried to do that.”

Central Christian uses the theater for its church services and has maintained nearly every bit of the original theater including the chairs, carpet, ticket booth and tapestries. Even the ancient air-conditioning units still cool the theater turned sanctuary.

The church still shows old movies in the theater occasionally and it has also served as the stage for graduations, weddings and some cultural events.

Colonial Fox Theatre,

Pittsburg, Kan.

Just across the Kansas border, another historic Fox Theatre is getting a facelift.

The Fox in Pittsburg was built in 1920 “along the same lines as the Isis in Kansas City,” according to old newspaper stories. It is an exaggerated two-story building in an Italian Renaissance Revival style. It underwent a massive interior renovation in 1926.

Despite being closed for more than 20 years starting in 1985, today the theater looks very much like it did when that 1926 renovation was finished. The Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation saved the Fox from demolition and bought the property in 2007.

The building was added the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It is being renovated.

Coleman Theatre,

Miami, Okla.

The Coleman is perhaps the best-known historic theater in the area because of its full schedule of events.

The Coleman opened in 1929 as the premier theater in Miami. It was built by George Coleman, a well-digger who discovered the lead and zinc deposits, said Barbara Smith, executive director of the theater.

It took 330 days to build the Coleman and the result was an extravagant Spanish exterior and French interior.

“It’s an unusual mixture of styles,” Smith said. “We eventually realized it was because Mr. Coleman wrote the checks and that’s what he wanted.”