Day 4,504—Ozark Theater—

 

Start time: 5:24 a.m.

Weather: Low 70s wind 1.6  mi/h, Humidity 93%

     It was drizzling when I went outside. There was also lightning in the background and occasional thunder. I put together this route as I ran, planning to run down Lockwood to Edgar and then go home. I felt cool and relaxed in the rain, thinking how this felt ideal, and it was the nicest morning in a week. I took in every street corner and the combination of lights reflected in the water and scattered across the storefronts. My headlamp was going out, but I decided that shouldn’t matter that much this morning since the sun would be out soon. I went by the Ozark Theater because it has been in the news recently, first in the Kirkwood / Webster Times and then today it was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The guy who owns it, with the intention of flipping it, was slapped with a condemnation notice from the city. The owner is saying no one lives there and that the city is pressuring him to destroy the property, but what I hear from locals is that the guy is dishonest, but so is Webster City, so I am not sure what is going on. I know in Rolla, Missouri, they have a much bigger Ozark Theater that is still active, which makes me think there once was an Ozark Theater group that traveled to different cities in the Ozarks. Still, all I know for sure is that there are two Ozark Theaters in Missouri that aren’t affiliated with each other currently but have the same architecture, and both are called the Ozark Theater. I am curious to learn more about the history.