Passion for Preserving Historic Buildings

Like many other American towns, Kearney NE has lost a lot of historic landmarks in the name of progress. But one Kearney citizen found a way to blend today's needs with the preservation of historic buildings in a way others can emulate.

Walter D Martin, D.M.D, not only turned the old Fort Theater into an up-to-date dentist office--Ft. Theatre Dentistry, but also renovated the old First Baptist church into his living quarters. For some purists, this might seem as bad as total destruction, except Dr. Martin hasn't destroyed the integrity of either historic building.

Originally from California, though he taught orthodontics internationally, Martin moved to Kearney to be near his children by his first marriage. It was a distinct change from California. He said this about the historic background of where he lived in California, "The town I was living in did not exist 25 years before I got there. It was just a piece of dirt."

He learned appreciation for historic buildings from his earliest days and from his time in Europe where he was awed by the magnificent historic architecture. "As a young child, I would find interesting buildings and imagine what it would be like to make them a home. Could be an old railroad station, could be an old church, could be an old fort in someone's backyard. I always imagined everything as a home."

His appreciation for historic buildings grew as he traveled. "When I traveled over to Europe, one of the most amazing things to me was the historic architecture. Some of the stuff, like Notre Dame Cathedral, started over 1000 years ago. In the United States, 300 years ago we were getting tepees to stay up. Yet in Europe, they were building these very magnificent buildings. So as I traveled over to Europe, I loved looking at historic architecture. The amount of handiwork was just beautiful."

He also appreciated Kearney's historic buildings, but was horrified at the move to destroy some of these historic places. "I'd only been here a short time, and there was an historic First Baptist Church for sale. It was purchased by a gentleman from Kansas who was going to make it into a restaurant. I actually thought it would make a very beautiful restaurant. It was not approved by the city. Another plan was to remove the building, tear it down, along with the pastor's house and put in a parking lot. That the city would allow something like that to be torn down was beyond my imagination. Why they would take down a building so beautiful and with so much history? Did you know President Truman was there, and that it was built in 1800s? It is a beautiful historic gothic, very well preserved."

He bought it. "At first, I thought to make the church into a dental office. But I didn't want to destroy the integrity of the building-not cutting up walls or tearing this out, and no removal of stained glass."

He added, "After months of trying to fit that in, I realized it just wasn't going to work. So I had an old, historic church. I had no idea what to do with it. I decided to go see a draftsman and architect, and we designed a house inside of the church. We were able to make five bedrooms and five bathrooms. It made a beautiful house." Martin did it without destroying the historical integrity of the house. But, he still needed a dental office.

When the historic Fort Theatre came up for sale, Martin thought it would make a beautiful office. "It would be easy, because the theatre was just a box. I could put a box in the box, no problem. I had to make the floors flat, so we moved it to the three levels. The first level is the dental office itself where we have five dental chairs. The Lobby, where the popcorn was, is our waiting room, with fresh popcorn, coffee and big screen TV, and the front desk area. Then there is the theatre itself that was restored back to the original. Most patients do not even see the old theatre that is used by organizations such as a church youth group for activities.

He said, "I like to save old signs from buildings that go out of business like the McQues neon sign.

"After we built the dental office, I tried to do my best to maintain it as far as a theatre theme as much as possible. I always wanted my dental office to be a fun place, to be an interesting place. Somewhat enjoyable to go to, besides getting dentistry done. So we decided to make each room a little bit of a theme room. What happened in the Elvis room, happened by accident. The electrician was working on the other side of the wall and punched a hole. Anyway, I needed to cover the hole up. Well, the church group using the theatre had some stand-ups. One of the stand-ups they had was Elvis. I went and got him and stuck him on the wall.

He also has the John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and the Wizard of Oz room. Martin said, "As time goes by, I keep adding things. One addition was the big movie poster. I love autographs I have Einstein, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Laurel & Hardy's." He has other original works such as Saint Apollonia, the Patron Saint of Dentistry--an original Andy Warhol--all of which have or will have historic value.

Martin's appreciation for historic buildings, led him to preserve two unique historic Kearney landmarks. He did something other business can also do. With ingenuity, he was able to blend historic and contemporary, preserving the integrity of the old in a setting that followed today's government guidelines. The result at Ft. Theatre Dentistry is an environment of warmth and professionalism.

If Dr. Martin can do this, others can, too. His approached should be encouraged.