Happy Mother’s Day, Millie!
I built Madge’s Hatbox in tribute to my grandmother, but today it’s all about my Mom. A remarkable woman from Wichita, Kansas.
I never understood why Mom didn’t want anyone to know her first job was as an usherette at the Orpheum Theater. After all, she was one of the people who helped save it.
Of course on some level, I did understand. Meredith Hill—everyone called her Millie—worked her way up from secretary to owner of one of the largest commercial property management and leasing companies in the region. She was also one of the first Certified Property Managers (CPM) in the country. At a time when few women were in the business, she managed commercial properties from New York City to San Francisco and everywhere in between.
And it was all her. Sure, there were leasing agents, property managers, and even her less talented daughter who passed through the doors of Professional Management Services. But in the end, it was her 5’1″, 90-pound frame that helped chart the course of downtown Wichita and mentored many future real estate professionals.
In 1979, a Grand Plan emerged to remake downtown Wichita. Spearheaded by prominent businessmen and championed by both the Wichita Eagle and the Beacon newspapers, the plan proposed demolishing entire city blocks. One block between Broadway and Market was to be cleared for a shopping mall, with only the Macy’s building left standing. Another block between Market and Main would be razed to build a six-story parking garage. Yet another garage would occupy the north side of Douglas between Market and Broadway. These would all be connected by a system of skywalks. Millie, along with other alarmed downtown property owners, mounted an insurgency against this urban renewal nightmare.
As with so many things in our lives, Millie fell into historic preservation by accident. She developed her passion by managing early 20th-century buildings like the Board of Trade Building, Landmark Square, and the venerable Farmers and Bankers Building. In the face of this redevelopment scheme, she saw what others didn’t: that older buildings added character and charm to downtown, offering unique office spaces for those with vision.
The group succeeded. They not only preserved the buildings already mentioned but also led the restoration of the Occidental Hotel, the old Montgomery Ward department store, and others. She collaborated with like-minded investors to preserve landmarks like the Kress Building. By proving that these buildings could remain viable, cash-flowing investments, she changed the narrative. Millie helped the public see that the historic fabric of downtown Wichita was worth saving. Against all odds, a small group of property owners and preservationists pushed back against this white elephant of a boondoggle and secured the future of downtown.
But her biggest project lay ahead: the Orpheum Theater.
The Orpheum opened in 1920. Designed by famed theater architect it was one fo his earliest examples of a style called Atmospheric.
Atmospheric theaters were intended to give the audience the feeling of sitting outside in a historic environment with twinkling stars above. Wichita’s Orpheum was designed to resemble a Spanish Andalusian garden.
After it closed in 1976, the Orpheum—the last of the city’s movie palaces—faced extinction. By the 1980s, developers had floated plans for everything from a shopping mall to (yes, again) another parking lot. In 1984, to prevent the city from demolishing the Orpheum, Millie Hill and advertising legend Marge Setter formed a group called “Save the Orpheum.” Along with attorney Stan Wisdom, they saved the building from the wrecking ball at nearly the last possible moment. The theater was then donated to a newly formed nonprofit.
Millie and Marge enlisted a group of farsighted board members—some might say star-crossed dreamers—to launch what would become the Orpheum Performing Arts Centre. It was a slog. That original board worked tirelessly, making progress in fits and starts as funds trickled in. A new roof here. Updated dressing rooms there. No air conditioning? Fine, we’ll just schedule shows for fall and winter. Over the years, the Wichita Gridiron show became a cornerstone event that helped the public imagine what the Orpheum could be.
Millie was the driving force for over 20 years, yet she always remained in the background. She never wanted to be board president. We used to joke that she was the perpetual president-elect of the Orpheum Theater. Right or wrong, she believed the board needed a flashier name at the helm—not realizing she herself was an inspiration to so many who worked with her and for her.
After she finally retired from the board, Millie enlisted the capable Mary Eves to carry on her legacy. Mary firmly established the theater as a premier entertainment venue in the city, building systems to help it function as a professional operation. In her volunteer role as board president and executive director, Mary was a force of nature—manager, fundraiser, event coordinator, and jack-of-all-trades until her own retirement.
Since then, through good boards, bad boards, and truly awful boards, this Grand Dame of Wichita has endured. And now, as the theater goes dark this summer for restoration, she’s finally being returned to her original glamour—ready for her close-up.
My husband Bill and I flew the coop years ago, leaving Wichita behind but never far from our memory. Millie loved visiting us in Dallas and later Atlanta, but she never considered moving. Wichita held her heart. And the city is all the better for it.
I look back with pride on that original Orpheum board and all the immensely talented people since who fought the good fight, including current executive director Stacee Olden and immediate past director Rachel Banning.
Today, many of the buildings Millie restored are once again boarded up. Downtown is again at a crossroads. Still, I hold out hope. Perhaps the light of the Orpheum marquee and the new WSU biotech campus will become beacons for another downtown renaissance.
Now, on the 25th Mother’s Day since Millie’s passing, and in the midst of National Historic Preservation Month, I can’t help but think how fitting our state motto feels right now: Ad Astra Per Aspera—”To the Stars Through Difficulties.”
I know mom is smiling.
For more information on thr historic Orpheum Theater and it upcoming restoration please check out their website.
