How It All Began

(Opera House photo courtesy of Antiochiana)

(L-R, Hilda Livingston, Lucia Livingston, Augustus King and Dr. Arthur E. Morgan)

DAYTON DAILY NEWS, January 26, 1959

First Nighters

Senior Citizens Take Over Yellow Springs Opera House
by Carl Barton


Yellow Springs, Jan. 26 [1959]—Dr. Arthur E. Morgan officially opened the old opera house here yesterday for use as a Senior Citizens center following a motion by village council last week to "give him the keys, turn on the heat; let him go and see what happens."

Dr. Morgan is chairman of the Senior Citizens committee which asked permission to use the aging structure as a recreational center for about 400 older persons in Miami Twp. and a small section of Clark county. Most of the building has not been used since village offices were moved up the street to an old school two years ago. Before that it had been used by the Yellow Springs theater. The rear of the building continues to house village street equipment.

Mrs. Hilda Livingston, program chairman of the committee, said the 4,000 square feet of space on the lower floor of the opera house would be used for furniture and clothing repair and will include a game area for the oldsters.

Myron Shwartz, a Fairborn businessman, has contributed to the project by donating a storeroom he owns at 221 Xenia Ave., here, rent-free for six weeks. The committee will use this area as a swap shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for the items repaired and refinished at the opera house. Augustus King will be shop supervisor for the Senior Citizens program.

With donation and installation of some equipment and raw materials to work with, the program will get underway within the next two weeks. Floors and walls of the opera house were refinished and redecorated in 1957 when it was used by the village and the roof is now being repaired by council to insure a dry working area.

Open house will be held in the Senior Citizens new headquarters Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m., Mrs. Livingston said, when it is expected that several hundred persons will attend to give the program a send-off. She observed that several items of furniture have already been donated and stressed the need for more.

Dr. Morgan has outlined the purpose of the Senior Citizens committee as a means of meeting the needs of older residents in the community which are not met by individuals themselves or by other agencies. He has proposed that the opera house center be used not only for the repair work, but also as headquarters for a Golden Age club and as a place for counselling and administration for the needs of oldsters.