(Radio Iowa) – The operators of the historic Webster City movie theater damaged by a fire last November 29th are hoping to get it back open this fall. The Webster Theater and two other buildings in the downtown section of the north-central Iowa town were damaged in the fire. Spokesman Jeff Pingel says they have gutted the theater and started the renovation. “We didn’t get any fire damage from that but we got extensive extensive smoke and water damage and we’re just we just it’s just finished the cleanup the 28th of April so it’s been five months just for cleanup,” he says. Pingel says the work continues, but they discovered something they will have to fix that they didn’t expect.

“The front wall has a six inch lean to it, which we had a structural engineer come in and check it out. It’s not unsafe but we have to pull it back,” Pingel says. “So before we can go begin any reconstruction we have to pull this wall back six inches, which isn’t that’s not an insurance thing, that’s money that we have to come up with on our own.”

The theater was constructed at the turn of the 20th century and had undergone an extensive remodeling more than 10 years ago. It was the subject of a documentary film “Made in Iowa” you can see on YouTube. Monetary donations are welcome to the Webster Theater website.