The vacant Belvidere Theater sits at the entrance of Main Street in Central City, and many residents have wanted the venue to reopen and be restored to its glory days. Thanks to the new board for the Belvidere Foundation, the vision is closer to becoming a reality.

The Belvidere Theater was built in 1875 after a devastating fire destroyed most of the city. The theater opened as a performance venue with plays, concerts, magic shows and minstrel shows. It was known to be the finest, if not the largest hall in the territory until the Central City Opera House was built in 1878.

The Belvidere has had many uses over the years. Beaman’s Bottling Works used it from 1886 – 1904, the Colorado National Guard used it as an armory for 30 years, Central City Garage occupied it in 1915, and it was used as a basketball court in the 1930s. The theater, along with the Shoofly restaurant next door, served as a community gathering place for many years. The Belvidere hosted Victorian Balls, the Colorado Libertarian Party Convention, and was the filming location for the movie The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal, in 1970. Many of the local residents played small parts in the film.

When gambling became legal in the 1990s, the owners tried to turn the Belvidere into a casino. Their plans fell through and the theater was left vacant and fell into disarray for many years. The Belvidere was designated as “Most Endangered Place” by the State of Colorado in 2016. Gilpin County took ownership of the Belvidere in 2015 for back taxes and transferred ownership to Central City. The city created a nonprofit, The Belvidere Foundation in 2020 to create fundraising for the estimated 3 million dollars to rehabilitate the theater. In 2018, $700,000 had been donated and a grant from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for 1 million dollars gave promise to start the rehabilitation.

In March, 2021, a new board for the Belvidere Theater was created from residents to oversee the theater. The new board is President Jack Hidahl, Vice- President Peter Droege, Secretary Patrice LeBlanc, Treasurer Betty Mahaffey, Eric Chinn, Barbara Thielemann, Chip Smith, Kathryn Heider and Jonathan Morrison.

The purpose of the organization is for the restoration, preservation and improvement of the Belvidere Theater. The non-profit will be responsible for the administration, operations, maintenance, marketing, programming, fundraising, fiscal transactions and other community uses. The board is currently overseeing Phase One of the rehabilitation and is raising funds and applying for grants for the remainder of the project.

President Jack Hidahl appeared on the podcast for The Mountain-Ear Podcast 18, Everybody’s Listening. Hidahl described the Belvidere Foundation as a non-profit between the board and Central City. The Foundation has been around for a while and City staff were the board members. A new board was voted in by city council and took over on March 23, 2021.

Hidahl stated, “There is a great deal of work to do to get the building back to a good condition. The Belvidere will be available for all Gilpin County to use in a number of purposes. It will have to be self-sustaining but could be leased to other organizations and events such as family reunions, graduations, school groups, productions or business seminars.” Hidahl believes the venue will be a great social space and feels this is critical for people to get back to socializing.

The Belvidere Foundation is seeking community members to get involved with donations or volunteer opportunities. Call 303-582-5251 for more information.