Pittsburg ? A nearly 88-year-old movie theater in this southeast Kansas town has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Vonnie Corsini, president of the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation, said the designation, made Saturday during a meeting of the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review in Topeka, will help her group with its fundraising efforts. The foundation is working to restore the theater, which has been vacant for more than 20 years.

“This is a great day, not only for us, but for Pittsburg as well,” Corsini said.

Corsini said the listing could help the theater obtain funds from the Heritage Trust Fund Grant program. It also could qualify for federal and state rehabilitation tax credits, which encourage and reward private investment for restoring and maintaining historic properties.

The foundation plans to apply for a grant to repair the building’s leaking roof and to fix a deteriorating wall in the basement under the stage, she said.

Besides the fundraising opportunities, Corsini said she believes the national registry listing adds credibility to the foundation’s goal of reopening the theater.

The Colonial Fox Theater first opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 1920 as a film and vaudeville venue. It had a single main stage with stadium-style seating.

Kristen Johnston with the Kansas State Historical Society said the building’s architecture – a combination of Italian Renaissance and art deco styles – is unique.

“You wouldn’t see that in too many theaters in Kansas,” she said.

Joel Rhodes, a history professor at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, prepared the proposal for the national designation. He also had prepared the proposal that got the theater added to the state registry, but he said the national effort was more involved.

“They wanted a different level of research, and we needed to make a stronger argument for the historical and architectural importance of the theater,” he said. “The board was also curious about the long-range sustainability of the organization.”