Work to transform the former Strand Theatre — between Hennink's and Bazley Meats at 12-14 E. Michigan Ave. — into the home of the Battle Creek Civic Theatre got under way in earnest in 1970. An article in the June 14, 1970, Enquirer and News declared that "an old-fashioned barn raising once so popular in the Midwest is the neighborly work session every Sunday at the old Strand Theatre, where a new Civic Theatre home is being created." The "impossible dream," as it was called, would require three years work and $100,000 before the grand opening on Feb. 20, 1973.