Oregon Trail Community Foundation

Midwest Theater
Scottsbluff, NE

The Oregon Trail Community Foundation is a benevolent community trust organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska for the benefit of the citizens of western Nebraska and Goshen and Platte Counties in eastern Wyoming.

Scottsbluff’s Midwest Theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1946 after a fire destroyed the original theater, the Midwest Theater was designed in Art Moderne style and served for decades as one of the centers of social life in the North Platte Valley.

The Theater closed in 1996, but in its 50 years it served as the birthplace of cherished memories- first movies, first dates, first jobs, proposals, glimpses of stars and far-away places…shining from the silver screen.

The Theater was donated to the Oregon Trail Community Foundation in 1997 to be saved and preserved for years to come. A sister organization, Friends of the Midwest Theater, was formed to actually operated and take care of the theater. The Oregon Trail Community Foundation has given the Friends of the Midwest Theater a twenty-year lease at a dollar per year.

The Foundation works closely with the “Friends” to help in their many projects. Please visit the website, www.nebraskarts.com, to see what is currently playing and how their refurbishing efforts are going.