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During the two years Bill Chambers used the Auditorium for his implement and repair business, the people of Laurel realized they had no place to hold indoor gatherings.
When Chambers offered to sell the building to the city in October 1938, the village board called another special election.
This time voters approved issuing $8500 in bonds to purchase the building and to do the necessary remodeling.
When the deal was finalized in May 1939, the building became the City Auditorium. A new stage was built on the south end and a basketball floor was installed.The first high school game was played on the new floor on December 12, 1939. Laurel defeated Pilger 22 to 20.
Basketball games were played in the Auditorium until the new gym was completed in time for the 1957–58 school year.
On Friday, Feb. 15, 1957, Plainview defeated Laurel 50–31 in the last home game played on the auditorium floor. Bill Norvell was the coach.
Jon Ericson (LHS ‘54) remembered playing in the Auditorium in the early 1950s.
“One basket was directly above the door where people entered. When it rained or snowed, the floor became slippery and dangerous. The other basket was just in front of the stage. We had to be careful not to drive too fast or we would end up banging into the stage. The locker rooms in the basement were third-world. We would have to step into the furnace room to get warm.“ Incidentally, when natural gas first came to Laurel in 1953, the city fathers hooked one boiler to the gas and left the other one on coal until they were sure the new fuel would be successful.
In January 1940, a room was fixed up on the second floor for community meetings. “The Auditorium can be made the most valuable asset to our community,“ said the Advocate. And so it was for many years: basketball games, entertainments, graduations, banquets, gatherings, community meetings, auction sales, all were held in the City Auditorium.
In June 1942, Carl Jeffrey built a large “Vfor Victory” sign, and installed it on the roof. Illuminated in red, the sign was visible from a considerable distance at night. For his duties as Auditorium custodian, Jeffrey received $35 a month and an upstairs apartment.
Inspired by the wartime USO canteens for servicemen, a Teen Canteen was held in the Auditorium from 1945 to 1949. Different activities were provided to keep the young people off the streets and out of trouble.
In October 1946, the Village Board voted to charge the school $400 to use the Auditorium. The School Board objected so they agreed on $325. That was $325 for the entire school year.
In November 1946, bleachers were built on both sides of the basketball court. The town furnished the materials and the school furnished some of the labor. The three-tiered bleachers remained until recently.
The men of the Fire Department began remodeling a room in the basement for a club room in 1949. In April 1950, the unfinished room was turned over to the Boy Scouts. In 1951 another room was remodeled for the Girl Scouts and Brownies.
In December 1950, a record crowd of approximately 800 youngsters crowded into the Auditorium to see Santa and to collect a bag of candy and nuts. By comparison, the new Community Center has a rated capacity of 400.
By the mid-1950s, the Baby Boomers had arrived and the school was becoming badly overcrowded. In February 1956, voters approved a bond issue to build an addition containing three new elementary classrooms, a kitchen, lunch room, and a full size gymnasium with a stage. Work was completed in time for the opening of the 1957-58 school year.
“It was a real highlight to get the new gymnasium,“ said Vernon McNabb. “Not many people came to basketball games in the auditorium and when they did, there was no way to get them in.”
In the spring of 1957, the last basketball game and the last graduation was held in the City Auditorium. With the school no longer needing the facility, the Village Board offered to sell it to the new Cooperative Creamery for $7000. Fortunately, the Co-op selected another location or the people of Laurel once again would have no place for community events.
In 1958 there was talk of installing a kitchen in the Auditorium. The Tuesday Club and other organizations began raising funds and the kitchen became a reality in 1961. It was at the south end of the building where the stage was located. Exactly when the stage was removed is not known to this writer. By 1960 people were staying home to watch television instead of coming to town to watch movies. In June 1960, the Laurel Theatre closed due to lack of patronage. The vacant theater was subsequently occupied by the Gamble Store and then Morten’s Hardware. On Feb. 20, 2013, the building was damaged by fire had to be demolished. Beginning in April 1961, movies were again shown in the Auditorium on Saturday nights. A few months later, these also came to a halt due to lack of support.
In 1961, the cost to rent the Auditorium was $10. The PTA started another Teen Canteen In the Auditorium in 1962. The idea was to give young people a place to go after games instead of cruising the streets.
In April 1964, the Auditorium’s front entrance was removed to make way for a new addition. The work was completed in September. City offices were then moved from the Light Plant to the east room and the Library was moved from the southeast corner of Maloney’s Drug Store into the west room. The Library was later moved to the new Learning Center built after the old school building was demolished in 1978.
In 1980 a small addition was built on the east side and the basement was remodeled to house Laurel‘s new Senior Center. The Center and the city offices have now migrated to the new Community Center.
The last public event held in the Auditorium was a Town Twirlers square dance held on April 27, 2022. Part of the building was then used by the school until the new Laurel-Concord–Coleridge high school was completed.
With the building now empty, it was decided to tear it down instead of rehabilitating it. The historic City Auditorium which served the Laurel community for 111 years has now been converted into a large vacant lot. Hopefully, something eventually will be built more substantial than the tin buildings that pass for great architecture these days.
