The old marquee of the Mills Theater may still light up downtown Lake Mills on movie nights, but that’s all that remains of the theater built in the 1930s.

Lake Mills Entertainment Inc. took control of the theater in 2002 and made it a nonprofit. The theater wasn’t renovated, said Chairman Scott Helgeson; it was torn down and rebuilt.

“I’m not sure we knew what we were doing; I’ll put it that way,” Helgeson said. “We knew we wanted a theater; we didn’t know what it all would entail. We found out.”

The idea to rebuild came from a town meeting where many residents voiced their desire for a theater after the Mills Theater closed in 2001.

A portion of the building caved in, and the city hauled away much of the theater, which Helgeson described as a wood Quonset. Only the Marquee and the front wall remained intact until the board could raise the money to begin building, Helgeson said.

“As money flowed in we’d build it,” Helgeson said. “It was tough to raise the money. It wasn’t tough to build it.”

The new Mills Theater opened July 11, 2008, during Lake Mills’ annual July Jubilee, a time when high school alumni often return to town.

The Lake Mills alumni served a key role in the theater reopening. Helgeson said the board mailed letters to alumni seeking donations for the project and raised about $100,000.

Some students donated to the project while still in school. Eighth-Grade Quest donated $2,000 the first year, and subsequent eighth grade classes continued donating, raising more than $12,000, said Don Grotewold, a member of Lake Mills Entertainment Inc.

“I would credit them strongly with the fact that the theater happened,” Grotewold said. “A lot of people didn’t think it would. But these young people; they believed in it, and they wanted it. I credit them with giving the moral boost to the board to say, yes, go ahead.”

The theater was built with the help of local businesses. The new theater includes a higher ceiling above stadium seating, which replaced a sloped cement floor, Helgeson said. New windows and new stucco highlight the original marquee at the front of the theater.

The theater has fewer seats with about 200, including a 10 seat crying room just to the right of projection room with an entrance through the conference room that is used for meetings and birthday parties, Helgeson said. Directly below the meeting room is the lobby, which Helgeson said is about double the size of the original.

Lake Mills Entertainment is a nonprofit group, which Helgeson said is important because the board now has little debt and doesn’t pay a large mortgage payment.

The community has supported the theater since it’s been open and during the construction, Helgeson said. The city helped by working on and removing much of the old building and by forgiving back taxes owed on the property.

While the Mills Theater does have paid employees, some residents volunteer to sell tickets. Stephen Iverson, a retired teacher, said he volunteers to take tickets on Wednesdays and Fridays to support the theater.

Grotewold, who said the Mills Theater has been a part of his life since the 1940s, said his favorite parts of the new theater are the wider seats and wider rows because viewers don’t need to stand to let someone pass.

Grotewold said he attended the first film shown on July 11 in the new theater: “Kung Fu Panda.” “The Incredible Hulk” was shown later that night.

“It was just nice to sit there and see a lot of people enjoying the film,” Grotewold said. “I guess it had become a reality. It’s doing well. It’s being supported very well.”