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1/4 Scale Replica of the original Greendale Theatre Marquee
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The Original Greendale Theatre
The original Greendale Theatre first opened on Saturday, April 29, 1939 and was part of the newly built Village of Greendale, Wisconsin. Greendale was one of three “Greenbelt” towns built during the great Depression of the 1930’s to provide work for men and a new, clean place for moderate income families to live in a park like setting. Greendale officially opened to the new residents on May 1, 1938. The other two towns are Greenbelt, Maryland and Greenhills, Ohio.
The Greendale Theatre was part of this plan to provide complete services to the community even though it was only 5 miles from Milwaukee it had no bus or train service and with many of the residents having only one car, everything was needed to be close by.
The original Greendale Theatre closed in 1968 and shortly afterward the marquee above the theatre entrance doors was lost to history. In 2014, I was asked to paint a mural above the doors to the new, small theatre in Ferch’s Malt Shoppe & Grill in downtown Greendale. Ferch’s is directly across the street from the original theatre. I suggested that I could create a real, three-dimensional marquee that would be an exact replica of the original—only smaller.
On the 77th anniversary of the opening of the original Greendale Theatre, April 29, 2016, we had a small ceremony to reveal the marquee with many people in attendance. Below are photographs of the creation of the marquee as well as a couple from the unveiling.
Contact me if you are interested in having Peters Design recreate a historic theatre marquee from your town!
All images and photographs are copyright—Peters Design. None of the images or photographs may be copied, reproduced or posted anywhere without permission from Peters Design.
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