We have been writing stories and talking a lot lately about the rise of Downtown Lansing. Also chatting about other areas in Lansing that are being built up and renovated. Well here is another part of history that needs our help according to fox47news.com.

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The Grand Ledge Opera House closed its doors in March of 2020, and had to give folks more than $80,000 in rental fees back who had reserved space and canceled.

Our contract says no refunds, but we felt it was the right thing to do," said opera house Executive Director Nancy Harvey. The opera house opened in 1884 as a roller skating rink, but became an opera house two years later. It has served as a movie theater, furniture store and a warehouse.

Back in the1980s, Mapes furniture was using the building for things like storage space.  They then sold it to the Grand Ledge Opera House Authority for the whopping sum of $1, that lead it to be reopened in 1993, after some big renovations.

Through community donations, they restored it and it is now a historical building," Harvey said.

The opera house makes all their money from rentals. Because of the pandemic restrictions they had to only allow a handful of people in the building, and that really hurt them financially. The opera house really needs help with community donations. They have applied for a Small Business Association loan in the meantime. So ideally they would raise another $50,000.

If you would like to help, you can make a tax deducible donation by clicking here.

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