This year, as the Community Foundation of Dunn County celebrates its 20th year of service, the Colfax Municipal Building is celebrating its 100th year of existence. The Foundation assisted the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group in 2010 with a grant to repaint and re floor the auditorium and rewire the electrical, as part of the building was still connected with the old knob and tube wiring.
The auditorium was bought in 1919 by Gerhard Hammer, who showed silent films in the theater while his sister accompanied the film with piano music. After a few years, the theater became known as the “Cozy Theater” and films were shown four nights a week. Both silent and technicolor films were viewed, and Sunday and Monday evenings became tradition for “tearjerker” films or a technicolor musical. However, the auditorium was not just for film viewing, it was also used for Colfax High school plays, lyceum programs, style shows and a plethora of other events sponsored by the Colfax Women’s Club, a reading program supported by the Colfax Public Library, also located within the Municipal building, along with the police department and town hall.
The Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group’s vision is to restore the old theater and begin hosting similar events and once again begin sharing the same memories the auditorium once provided to the community.
By: Laura Giammattei