On a Saturday evening in April of 1989, Helenans gathered at the Montana Club for a gala event kicking off a fundraising drive which would convert the then vacant 1891 Lewis and Clark County jail into the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing Arts. Over the next two years, more than $1.5 million would be raised to repurpose the historic jail into a state-of-the-art venue for cinema and the performing arts which honors one of Helena's most famous citizens – Myrna Loy.
The saga of the Myrna Loy Center is unique. The successful conversion of the historic jail into the arts center would become a sterling example of historic preservation and building repurposing.
Over the decades, fire and earthquake destroyed a number of lavish and unusual historic buildings in Helena's central business district and within the city's Westside “mansion district”. More than 240 structures in the downtown area were lost to Urban Renewal in the 1970s alone. Saving the jail was the brainchild of two unlikely characters: Arnie Malina and Steve Browning. Both were transplanted Montanans – one from New York and the other a Hoosier from Indiana. Arnie Malina arrived in Helena in 1973 and within two years had founded the Helena Film Society, the Second Story Cinema, and eventually planted the seeds for converting the century old jail into an arts center. Malina would become the Myrna Loy Center's first managing director.
History of the Jail
In September 1890, the Helena Daily Herald announced at the November election that Lewis and Clark County voters would be asked whether the County should build a new $60,000 jail. The results of the election were, as recorded by the Board of Canvassers, 2,715 for the new jail to 631 against construction of the new facility. Five bids for construction of the new jail were opened on April 23, 1891 with R. A. Bell and Company, agents for the Detroit Safe and Lock Company, winning the contract with the lowest bid of $43,495. Both the recently completed County Courthouse and the jail were constructed of “Ten Mile” granite from a local quarry and were impressive additions to the capital city landscape. The jail proved to be a good investment, serving as the county jail for nearly a century.
Naming and Construction of the Myrna Loy Center
Naming the historic jail the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing Arts was an integral facet of the fundraising effort. One of the first issues which confronted the Board of Directors of the Helena Film Society was: what to call the new performing arts center? One couldn't continue to refer to it as the “Old Jail;” this was not a name which would encourage prospective donors to contribute to the cause. Following a number of naming sessions, the Board came up with the idea of naming the new arts center for Myrna Loy, a world renowned movie actress who had grown up in the Helena area and had kept an association with Helena after leaving for Hollywood in the 1920s...
From the Helena Independent Record