Blog Effort and Thanks

In 2023-25 a group of Lincoln volunteers and staff realized that if we wanted to tell the story of a 100 year old community treasure we better document it. That led to an ongoing effort reviewing:

  • Online newspaper archives from Bellingham, Anacortes, Seattle and Los Angeles
  • Microfilmed newspaper archives from Mount Vernon loaned from the State newspaper archive to the Burlington Public Library
  • Business directories, phone books, and oral history transcripts at the Skagit County Historical Museum
  • Web resources about the Lincoln and other Skagit County theaters
  • Meeting minutes, posters, grant applications, posters, and newsletters in the Lincoln Theatre Centre Foundation archives

From all this work, volunteers and staff plan a number of deep dive blog posts about the Lincoln and why it survived, the performers, the promotions, the lawsuits, and the heroic efforts of volunteers to stabilize, preserve, and improve the theater organ, the building, and the audience experience. With community volunteers there will be both a walking tour of historic theaters in downtown Mount Vernon, and a larger driving tour of historic Skagit County theaters.

At least two museum exhibits about the Lincoln, Skagit theaters and theaters are planned for 2026, the year of the Lincoln Centennial.

Special thanks go out to the:

  • Leadership Skagit Visionaries group who did the leg work and assembled the content for the walking and driving tours.
  • Burlington Public Library staff who provided a microfilm reader, support, and ears for anecdotes as they were discovered in the newspapers.
  • Skagit County History Museum for making materials from their collections available for our review.

External Resources

Organ PSTOS
Blade Sign
Mount Vernon Walking Tour
Skagit Legacy Tour
Cinema Treasures
Cinema Tours
Skagit History pages
FB pages
Anacortes American
Bellingham Herald (paywall)
Seattle Times (paywall)
Online Lincoln archives