Rook Theater

This web page has a story about a group called Friends of the Rook, who are raising funds to restore the Rook Theatre and operate it as a performance space and community event center. It says that the house was built in 1939 by Bert and Elmer Rook to replace their Lyric Theatre at another location in Cheyenne. The official opening of the Rook was April 3, 1940.

The Rook was one of the earliest theaters designed by architect Jack Corgan, of Corgan & Moore. Unfortunately a 1972 fire destroyed the original interior, and even the interior from a remodeling that year is now gone, the auditorium having been stripped to the bare walls.

I don’t know about the performing arts thing… It reopened as a video store in 2010 with movies shown on Friday and Saturday nights.

SAT15JAN2011, 1:05P CST
Just met a lady who works at Lowe’s here in Irving, Texas . She’s a daughter of the Rooks and worked in this very theatre when she was a very young girl. She said they also had houses in Erick, Oklahoma and Gainesville, Florida.

I’ve got some beautiful pictures of the Rook Theater which I’ll add asap. This one’s a performing arts theatre exclusively now. It’s multi-colored and very striking from the outside.