They’ve been here before and they’re back to tackle another project in Clarksdale.
The Clarksdale Fuller Center hosted a group of students from Urbana, Illinois during spring break and the crew of 20 began the first work of renovating the iconic Paramount Theatre in downtown Clarksdale.
The Paramount is the tallest and one of the biggest building in town and bringing it back to life may be one of the biggest revitalization projects in Clarksdale’s history.
The group from Urbana first came to Clarksdale seven years ago and helped build Habitat houses. They’ve returned every spring and this year they took on the Paramount.
“We’ve been busy with sledge hammers and right now I’m trying to saw one of these old pine studs,” said Andy Brown, whose dad started the treks to Clarksdale. “It’s not been easy. It’s dusty and a lot of heavy, hard work.”
Two of Clarksdale’s largest and most historic downtown buildings were donated to Griot Arts in late 2020. The Paramount Theater building is a visible symbol of what Clarksdale once was.
Known even to newer residents because of its marquis in disrepair, it is a 16,000 square-foot diamond in the rough carrying the potential to become a theater and a multi-purpose facility.
The other building is a little less noticeable, though no less historic or filled with potential. “I call it the JC Penny building,” Ben Lewis, of Griot Arts. “It was the JC Penny building in the 1920s or 30s, but the later location of JC Penny is what many people remember. But our building was the original JC Penny.”
The donation of these two buildings set off a chain-reaction that will change the look, image, brand, and impact of a city block in downtown Clarksdale.
But the path was not simple.
“Many were skeptical at first,” Lewis recalled. “We would need professionals to examine the buildings to see if they could be safely renovated. Then we had to decide what we wanted the buildings to become. After that, we had to learn the cost of doing it.”
Griot Arts is a nonprofit organization, based in Clarksdale, that provides young people with life-changing experience in arts, education, and workforce development. Griot also owns and operates the Meraki Coffee Shop for the purpose of equipping young people for the world of business by providing experience, job skill training, and building both social skills and personal confidence.
This spring’s project was demolition.
“We didn’t see a lot of progress at first,” said Anya Troyer, a junior at University Heights in Urbana. “We’ve uncovered a lot of things as we moved the junk out of here. It’s been neat to learn the history of this building and what it says about Clarksdale.”
From now until the summer, the project lies in the pre-design programming stage. Sometime in the summer, it will transition into the schematics and design stage. Finally, it will enter the development and design stage.
As for the newly acquired downtown buildings, the Griot team believes they impose a heightened responsibility to the community.
“We believe we have a responsibility as a steward of the theater and of both historic buildings,” Lewis said. “There is such a diverse and deep history in both buildings. We want to steward the conversation to bring the buildings back into the life of the community.”
