LITTLE ROCK — The year of Branson’s founding and its centennial have something in common: disasters.
In 1912, an August fire destroyed all but three buildings downtown.
In 2012, a Feb. 29 tornado mauled downtown and the theater district along Missouri 76, peeling metal roofs from buildings and blowing hundreds of windows out of hotels.
The people of Branson are tenacious, said Ann McDowell, chairman of the city’s centennial commission.
“The town burned down in August 1912, and they promptly built it back again. So we’re going at it again 100 years later,” she said.
The tornado, however, wasn’t nearly as bad as the fire, which occurred after someone at a hotel filled a coal oil stove with gasoline, causing an explosion, according to a newspaper article.
This year’s EF2 tornado “severely damaged” six of Branson’s 50 theaters and a dozen of its 200 hotels, according to the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce. The vast majority of businesses in town had no damage from the storm, and many that did have damage have already cleaned up and reopened.
On Sunday, Branson will celebrate its centennial with the opening of a new museum and other festivities including comedy routines and a Dixieland band procession through downtown. The Branson Centennial Museum will have a different exhibit about every two months, said Brad Melton, the museum’s manager. The first exhibit will be on pre-1912Branson.
The museum is in the former Standard Service Station at the corner of Missouri 76 and Veterans Boulevard, “Where we got our first stoplight in 1972,” Melton said. That stoplight was needed because of traffic jams on the main highway through this small town. Branson, which is 12 miles north of the Arkansas state line, had a population of2,175 in 1970. It had grown to 10,520 by 2010.
Melton is an expert on Branson history. He talks fluently about American Indians, pioneer homesteaders and railroads. But when asked how Branson somehow became a country music resort town that rivals Nashville, Tenn., he’s stymied.
“That’s something we’re going to have to be able to answer after the museum opens,” he said.
While city leaders prepare for the centennial celebration, some Branson businesses are still making repairs after the “leap day tornado” whipped through town with 130 mph winds. EF2 refers to the Enhanced Fujita scale of storm severity, which ranges from zero to 5 for the worst. The storm hit just two weeks before the beginning of the tourist season, which coincides with spring break at colleges.
A convention complex at Branson Landing on Lake Taneycomo was one of the hardest hit areas.
Bill Tirone, assistant general manager of the Branson Convention Center and two nearby Hilton hotels, said the center has been closed since the storm but should reopen by mid-April. The 220,000-square-foot building had some roof damage and some interior damage where wind blew a garage door out of the building, he said. The center can accommodate conventions with 4,500 people.
Tirone said five conventions scheduled in March had to be moved. Three of those stayed in the Branson area, holding the conventions at Chateau on the Lake. One group moved its convention to Springfield, Mo. Another group moved its convention out of town, but Tirone wasn’t sure where.
Other conventions may be canceled even after the center has reopened because of a lack of hotel rooms in the immediate area, Tirone said.
The Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel, which has 294 rooms, has remained closed since the storm, he said. It should reopen in late summer. The tornado shattered windows in 214 rooms.
“They have to replace 3,800 panes of glass,” Tirone said.
Part of the 242-room Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing was closed after the storm. The north tower of the hotel wasn’t damaged. Forty rooms in the south tower were repaired and reopened March 17.
More rooms will be reopened when an air conditioner on the roof is replaced in mid-April, and the rest of the rooms will reopen after furniture is replaced, which should happen by June, he said.
The hotels are owned by HCW Development and leased by Hilton Hotels & Resorts. The convention center is owned by the city of Branson.
The New Americana Theatre has remained closed since the storm. It’s scheduled to reopen April 15. The tornado ripped a 20-by-20-foot hole in the top and side of the theater, allowing rain to soak the building’s interior, said Michael Haygood, whose family owns the theater. The act 3 Redneck Tenors were booked to headline shows at the Americana in April, but their show will begin two weeks later than planned, Haygood said.
The Americana will reopen with 750 new seats, a new curtain and new electrical equipment, he said.
“Essentially, it’ll be a brand new theater when it’s all said and done,” said Haygood.
The Baldknobbers Jamboree canceled shows for only the second time in 53 years because of the tornado. The Baldknobbers Country Music Theatre was closed for a week for the cleanup of minor damage after the storm, said Hollye Gurley, general manager of the jamboree.
Steve Presley, whose family opened Presleys’ Country Jubilee in Branson in 1967, said four theaters remain closed for repairs.
Arkansas, Pages 16 on 03/28/2012