Looks as if the Lake of the Ozarks is getting another movie Theatre. So Lake of the Ozarks movie goers will have another venue to choose from later this year.
Charles Misenheimer, deputy director/building official for the city of Lake Ozark, said although final plans had not yet been submitted, but developer Gary Prewitt had requested a foundation permit.Thomas Construction Company will be acting as the general contractor.
Wehrenberg HistoryWehrenberg, is based in St. Louis, is the oldest family-owned and operated theatre circuit in the nation.
The company was started in 1904 by Fred Wehrenberg who, after watching a film clip of passengers riding a train at the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair, rented a former bakery located next door to his saloon, purchased a piano and 99 kitchen chairs and launched the Cherokee Theatre in 1906. Business boomed, inspiring the Wehrenbergs to open the Airdome St. Louis first outdoor movie theater. Patrons sat on folding chairs and were cooled by breezes in the summer and warmed by potbellied stoves in the winter.
As the business expanded, more theatres were added to the circuit. Then, in 1948, Fred and his son-in-law, Paul Krueger, opened the first Wehrenberg Drive-In. The drive-in was named Ronnies after six-year-old Ronald Paul Krueger, Pauls son and Freds grandson. As a boy, Ron worked at the drive-in, running the miniature train around the playground and handling the pony rides and then later, working as carhop, usher and concessionaire before taking over as president of the company.
Over the years the company changed with the times, adding multiplexes originally theatres with two to six screens, but now housing ten or more screens. Wehrenberg also expanded outside the St. Louis area, building theatres in Springfield, Osage Beach which is located at the Osage Beach Outlet Mall and Cape Girardeau and then in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.