Beginning on July 25, 1868, the First Presbyterian Church welcomed people in Seward. It moved into the building at Fourth and Jackson streets in 1902, and its parishoners worshipped there until 2009, when the church closed.
It was organized as a district mission of the Missouri River Presbytery, according to On a Bend of the River by Jane Graff. Whe the church opened in 1868, it had 10 members. By 1888, it had 75.
The tornado that destroyed part of Seward in 1913 also damaged the building. The study and chancel were rebuilt in 1952 after a fire damaged the building.
As its members grew older, moved away or died, the church struggled to keep going, finally closing its doors in 2009.
The building stood vacant until 2013, when the Seward Area Chamber of Commerce bought it. The goal was to transform the church in to a theater so the Goehner Centennial Players could have a new home and the city had a place to present its Christmas plays and any other productions interested in using the space.
The Goehner Centennial Players formed in 1987 to honor Goehner’s 100th anniversary. Over the next 20 years, the annual melodrama became one of the go-to dinner theaters in the state with busloads of theater-goers filling the tables, cheering the hero and booing the villain.
The first melodrama was “Ten Nights in a Barroom” and was performed four times in 1987. When director Roger Harpham died in 2007, the curtain closed on the production.
After renovations to the church building, including transforming the chancel into a stage, the space came to life again.
In 2014, Patrick Runyan, son of founding members Caryl and Lloyd Schulz, revived the Centennial Players. In partnership with the Olde Glory Theatre, the players moved to the theater in Seward. The first show of the revived players took the stage for 11 performances.
The Olde Glory Theatre and Community Hall became its own entity in 2015, owned by the Olde Glory Foundation.
“The goal of the theatre is to provide wholesome family entertainment at a low cost, show-casing local area talent. Seward is blessed to have a very talented community and many of the initial performances relied on local musical talent,” the website, www.oldeglorysewardne.com, said.
Today, it hosts a variety of performances from singers and songwriters to the annual Christmas play. The King’s Players, a group of home-school students, presents an annual melodrama on the Olde Glory stage. The Concordia University theater department uses the space for performances, as well.
Each summer, Olde Glory hosts the Missoula Children’s Theatre workshop in July, bringing children of all ages to the stage.
While the building has changed its purpose from worship to entertainment, it still welcomes people to Seward.
