Joan Dillon (historic preservation activist)
| Joan Kent Dillon | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 30, 1925 Lafayette, Indiana |
| Died | January 18, 2009 (aged 83) Chatham, Massachusetts |
| Known for | author, historic preservation activist |
| Parent(s) | Gladys and Richard Kent |
Joan Kent Dillon (30 April 1925 – 18 January 2009) was a teacher, a nationally known historic preservation activist and an author.
Joan Kent was born 30 April 1925 in Lafayette, Indiana, to Gladys and Richard Kent of Tuxedo Park, New York. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, spending summers at the family's summer home in Whalewalk Farm, Orleans, Massachusetts. She attended Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island but graduated from Mary Institute in St. Louis in 1943. Dillon earned a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in 1947. Her husband-to-be, George Chaffee Dillon of Liberty, Missouri, had served in the Navy during the Second World War, rising to the rank of Lt. Commander, then receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School. They met in Cambridge and married on 11 September 1948. That same year the couple moved to Kansas City, Missouri where George went to work first for J. Bruening & Co. then Butler Manufacturing in 1949, eventually becoming president and chairman of the board. The Dillons had two daughters and a son. Joan Dillon went on to complete a Masters Degree in Medieval History at the University of Missouri in 1969 with a thesis on Medieval architecture. From 1962 to 1971 she taught Ancient and Medieval History at Sunset Hill School (now The Pembroke Hill School).
The Folly Theater is a historic theater in Kansas City, Missouri. It originally opened as the Standard Theater on 23 September 1900 and featured on the burlesque and vaudeville circuit. Business started declining in 1928 and the theater was closed between 1932 and 1941. The theater began showing adult movies in 1969 but continued to physically decline. The balcony had been closed by the fire marshall in 1964. The theater again closed in January 1974. The theater's then owners, Annbar Associates and Elk Realty of New York, announced that if a buyer could not be identified by the end of the year, the theater would be demolished to make way for a parking lot.
A group of local historic preservation activists, including Dillon and William N. Deramus III, formed the nonprofit Performing Arts Foundation, to raise the money to purchase and restore the theater. The theater was offered for sale for $950,000. The Performing Arts Foundation raised $350,000 in contributions and through negotiation convinced Annbar Associates to offer the remaining $600,000 of the purchase price as a donation.
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