Picture perfect weather is assisting contractors in completing an estimated $125,000 preservation effort on the historic Knox County Memorial Building. The Community Foundation’s Special Projects Fund is contributing $50,000 to restore and refinish most of the wood trim on the building, including columns, cornices and the porch ceiling.

The Memorial Theater was constructed between 1923 and 1925, as a result of post-World War I discussions among citizens and the Knox County Commissioners to create a memorial to all war veterans. In the fall of 1919 then Ohio Governor James Cox (who one year later, with running mate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would lose his Presidential bid to Warren G. Harding) named a board of trustees to manage the Memorial Building.

The Community Foundation Board of Trustees is proud to help preserve this local treasure, which is the site of so many public gatherings and cultural events.