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The Campus Theatre - A History by Denise Cummings (University of Florida)

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Today, many of the surviving mid-century movie houses, like The Campus, are now old enough to have been awarded historic landmark status. In 1994, several local residents, together with Jacquie Stiefel, began the application process for listing The Campus on the National Register of Historic Places. Having survived economic recession, competition from cable television, video, and mall-based multiplexes, film distributor control, real estate development, and above all, age, The Campus Theatre has long been recognized by members of the Lewisburg community for its importance in their social, architectural, cultural, and, interestingly, local family history.

For example, by 1941, Montandon resident Nettie Meachum and her sister Delena Himmelreich had worked at Lewisburg's other movie theatre, The Roxy (located at Market and 2nd Street--demolished in 1961), for a number of years. Barney Stiefel at The Campus then hired Nettie on a trial basis. She was to give her best try as cashier. Through marriage, raising children, and balancing other careers, Nettie took tickets at The Campus for sixty continuous years, retiring in 2001. Delena's husband Herman worked for many years as a projectionist at The Roxy, while Nettie's brother Frank Lewis was the projectionist at The Campus. Nettie's family and the Stiefels maintained a long lasting working and friendly relationship. Harold's vision to offer "a certain intangible personal touch," as he wrote in his personal correspondence in the 1980s, thus extended beyond the offerings of the finest in screen entertainment in Lewisburg.

In the Summer of 2001, as the theatre celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, Jacquie Stiefel sold The Campus to Bucknell University Film Professor Eric Faden. Dr. Faden initiated a renovation project and the theatre continues to show quality first-run, independent, art, and foreign films. The Campus has also recently hosted two film festivals-one sponsored by the Library of Congress, the other by the French Cultural Emissary. In the summer of 2002, Dr. Faden started a non-profit organization, The Campus Theatre, Ltd., that would help continue promoting the art of cinema and preserving Lewisburg's architectural treasure, The Campus Theatre.

© Denise K. Cummings
Last Updated: September 12, 2002