Mitchell's Theatre Burns Down

An historical hang-out in Mitchell is rubble. The Roxy theatre entertained Mitchell for 70 years, but Sunday morning an electrical problem ignited a fire that destroyed the downtown building. Dozens of people watched the flames and smoke pour from the theater. It started early Sunday morning, and crews remained on the scene all day to make sure the fire didn't flare up again. KELO-LAND'S John Bachman was at the fire and has more. The only time Mitchell's one movie theatre is empty, is in the morning. Jeff Logan, the Roxy's owner, says the timing of the fire is lucky. No one was inside, so no one was hurt. His historic building, wasn't as fortunate. At 7:30 Sunday morning, fire trucks woke up downtown Mitchell. First, thick smoke poured out of the historic Roxy Theatre. Then flames erupted. Jason and April Jennings live across the street and shot this amazing video from their apartment. "It's just like watching history, because my whole life we've gone to the Roxy to go to movies and it kind of hits you and it's like oh, wow, this is my hometown and this is what happens," she says. Jeff Logan's grandfather built the building in the 1920's, his father turned it into the theatre in 1933. "I don't know if it's hit me yet." Despite the building's age, Logan kept the wiring and electrical work up-to-date, to protect against fire. "But always in the back of your mind there's 'if it happened, what do you do?' And then it happens," Logan says. For more than two hours, fire fighters from 4 departments battled the blaze. Crews have contained the fire, but in the process, the 50 foot tower on top of the theatre weakened. Cars were towed to clear a path, and then fire fighters pulled the cell phone tower down. It crashed to the ground, crushing what's left of the Roxy's sign. "I hate to see it go. I mean I basically grew up in the building, but what do you do? It's a building." Logan lost family photos, and a collection of film history books, but he's thankful no one is hurt. He does have 3 theatres in a building addition that wasn't damaged by the fire. He hopes once the smoke and water damage is cleaned up he can reopen, and rebuild the theatre. Because the cell tower had to be pulled down from the theater, people in Mitchell may notice some problems making cell phone calls. Cellular One is bringing in some temporary towers, but until they are up and running, circuits may be busy so some people may get a busy signal instead of a dial tone.

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