New signs installed at the Schines Art Park: Mayor Reser explains their significance

After new signs at the Schines Art Park were installed, Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser talked about their significance for the city, past and future. He said the true meaning of the signs is creating and preserving history for the next generations.

“This is part of the history that we’ve created for the next generations,” Reser said.

Reser, who grew up in Bucyrus, remembers going to the Schines Theater, which was a family chain theater that opened in Bucyrus in 1936. The first movie Reser went to was at the Schines Theater, and that also was where he had his first date with his wife in the 1970s.

“It was a beautiful rendition of it,” said Reser. “It was the focal point of the community.”

How the park came to be

The theater was sold in the 1970s and operated until the ticket vending machine caught fire in 1991. The city kept reaching out to the owners, but they did not want the city to take over the theater. Then, Terry Gernert, a local attorney, managed to negotiate a deal to get the theater in the hands of the city.

“It was a miracle that we got it,” Reser said.

The old building was demolished in 2015. The mayor said he was able to get inside the theater before the demolition, and it was miserable there with holes in the roof, trees growing inside, and water in the basement.

More: Bucyrus Schines Art Park will feature new signs

Finally, Joseph Armbruster, a longtime community member, and Roger Moore, former Bucyrus mayor, set upon resolving the issue of the Schines Theater.

“It was an embarrassment to the community,” said Reser.

Armbruster and Moore decided to turn the place into the art park the residents of Bucyrus know today, and Robert Lyn Makeever designed it. Funding for the project came from a Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant of around $600,000.

“It was quite a mess to demolish,” Reser said.

The overall cost of the project is more than $1 million, he said. The additional expenses were because of the need to fortify the wall that was adjacent to the former theater. The city reached out to the Timken Foundation, and Manager Robert Hiltbrand helped to come up with the funding of more than $100,000.

Decorating Schines Art Park

After fortifying the wall, the city reached out to the city artist Eric Grohe and, as Reser said, “cajoled him” into painting murals on it. Grohe ended up developing the designs for the murals the city loved.

Grohe depicted characters from famous American movies and the movie industry, starting with Alfred Hitchcock and Humphrey Bogart. Bogart got married at Malabar Farm just outside of Mansfield – now Malabar State Farm Park.

“This was his very last mural,” Reser said. “And he jumped in with both feet.”

After the wall was done, the city wanted to add a stage to the park, but there was no funding for that. North Central State College in Mansfield found a stage it did not use and passed it onto the Schines Park after it was refurbished by Cathcart Rail, said the mayor.

The city further installed a sculpture by local sculptor Scott Mental and planted a few trees that provide shade. Roger Rush designed the archway at the entrance. The park is now used for concerts, movie nights, and church services.

“Now we have an enviable downtown park,” said Reser. “For a community our size - no one has anything like this.”

Park means a lot in terms of Bucyrus history

Downtowns, he said, used to be the focal point of the community before the 1970s when with the advent of automobiles people got a chance to drive out of town for entertainment or find them at home with cable TV.

Most of the small towns, said Reser, do not have theaters anymore due to lifestyle changes, and the fact Bucyrus has a park on the former theater place signifies the people of Bucyrus are proud of their community, and a hundred years from now both the city and the park will still be there.

“Bucyrus has a rich history,” said Reser. “And It will only continue, if we understand it and cherish it, and then create our own history for the next generations.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Schines Art Park has new signs - Bucyrus' gem epitomizes city's history