A piece of forgotten history was tucked away in the loft of the former storage building of the Marshalltown Community Theatre (MCT). It was only after unfurling the roll of fabric did they realize what they found.

Lisa Naig, president of the MCT Board, said last weekend they were emptying out the building, which they called “The Barn,” and discovered a hand-painted Marshall County country school stage curtain. Naig said Board Vice President Hobz Hooley was curious about the 15’x9′ piece amongst the other production backdrops. He asked what it was.

“He unfurled it and I said, ‘Holy cow. Holy cow. Holy cow. I know what that is,'” she said.

Naig knew what it was because she also serves on the board of the Historical Society of Marshall County.

“It is in amazing condition — absolutely for being up there for who knows how long,” she said. “We were surprised to discover that. It was crazy. I’m glad we found it.”

Naig does not recall using the curtain for any recent productions, but MCT has used The Barn for storage since the 1980s, amassing a collection of props, sets and costumes. The curtain was not the only piece of history sitting inside the building. Also tucked away was an old cast-iron stove, a pot belly stove, a box of antique Pepsi cans and an old Burger Chef cup with a straw.

“Just to find these was pretty awesome,” she said. “There’s a little bit of history there.”

A new home

Naig got a hold of Julie Lang, director of Taylor Country School No. 4 in Marshalltown, which is owned by the Historical Society of Marshall County. The curtain was rolled back up and placed in the back of Hooley’s truck for transport to Lang’s residence.

“It is a wonderful find,” Lang said. “We thanked the community theatre. This is a rare item to come across. I am so glad the Marshalltown Community Theatre gave us a call.”

Country schools would use large pieces of fabric as stage curtains for annual student performances at Christmas and the end of the school year. Lang said some schools strung up bed sheets from a wire. Only a few were lucky to have advertising curtains, which is what was found in The Barn.

“Local companies and stores would pay for advertising on the curtain,” she said. “The person painting the curtain would go to the businesses to see if they would pay money to have their business shown on the advertising curtain.”

The curtain found by MCT is believed to be painted by local artist Bert McGriff. Lang called McGriff’s daughter, who said the artwork looks like her father’s.

Lang is trying to get an accurate date of how old the curtain is but estimated that it is not older than 85 years. She said the phone numbers of the featured businesses only had four digits.

“We started using four-digit phone numbers in Marshalltown after 1939,” she said.

Lang is not sure which particular school used the curtain, but is certain it was somewhere in Marshall County based off of the advertisers.

“All of the advertisers are from Marshalltown, possibly a couple other towns,” she said.

There are 25 businesses on the curtain, some which might be familiar to Marshalltown residents, such as Lennox Furnaces, Purcel’s, Estel’s Ambulance, the Corn Belt Food Store, Best Hardware and Appliance, the Joyce Lumber Company and Security Savings Bank. Lang will be able to use the companies to help date the curtain.

“I’m going to research and see when they were in business,” she said.

Lang contacted the State Historical Society of Iowa conservator and showed the curtain.

“Our curtain is one of the nicest he’s seen,” she said. “We are lucky to have two good stage curtains. Some others are in really poor shape and thousands of dollars have been spent to conserve them.”

The second curtain acquired by the society is from a Liscomb family who donated a school stage curtain a few years ago — also in excellent condition.

Unfortunately, the public will not be able to easily view the piece. Since the curtain is so large, the Historical Society of Marshall County does not have a place to display it yet. Lang is hoping that will change in a few years.

“I just appreciate the community theatre giving me a call instead of tossing it,” she said. “I’m happy they unrolled it, because it is a hassle to unroll. Thank goodness they had some young people with strong backs.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.