Showtimes:
February 4th @ 1pm in-person at the Alden B. Dow Home Theater (315 Post Street – House Entrance)
February 18th @ 1pm via Zoom
March 10th @ 1pm in-person at the Alden B. Dow Home Theater (315 Post Street – House Entrance)
March 24th @ 1pm via Zoom
Seating is limited — reservations required.
Cost: $25 per person (includes concessions) or per household via Zoom
February Movies
1940s and 1950s
- Freeport/Lake Jackson Texas
Intermission - Architecture II
- Children Growing
March 1940: The Dow Chemical Company buys 800 acres near Freeport, Texas, south of Houston, to expand its Gulf Coast site. Alden B. Dow is presented with a rare architectural challenge and opportunity to build an entire city, Lake Jackson. He did exactly that and filmed much of the process. After the completion of the Lake Jackson community, Mr. Dow and his family traveled back home to Midland, Michigan where post-war building needs were in full swing. We will see two additional films focusing on some of the iconic civic and religious structures he designed during those years and get a glimpse of what it was like to call the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio “home.”
March Movies
1950s and 1960s
- Sandwich Panel House
- Carras/Dow Test House
- Reicker House
Intermission - Muskegon Community College
- Midland Area 1960
In 1946, interested in low-cost housing, Alden B. Dow explored the use of a manufactured wall panel that could speed up construction time and reduce costs. Together with a product engineer at The Dow Chemical Company, Mr. Dow created the Sandwich Panel (two plywood panels glued to a Styrofoam core) in 1950. This system of panels was used to varying degrees in several Midland area homes and Mr. Dow documented its use on film.
Alden B. Dow designed many educational structures in the 1960s. One unique design was the Muskegon Community College which was designed around and on top of a stream that meanders through its 122-acre site. In addition to this construction film we will see another that will highlight Midland in 1960.
The first showings, February 4th and March 10th, will be in person in the Alden B. Dow Home Theater. The same programs will then be broadcast via Zoom on the second date of each month, February 18th and March 24th. Choose what best fits for you.
