Queen Theatre
206 Morton Street,
Richmond,
TX
77469
206 Morton Street,
Richmond,
TX
77469
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The Queen Theatre opened in 1928. In the late-1940’s it was renamed Lamar Theatre, it was located in downtown Richmond, Texas. Although the building no longer has its marquee, the entrance hints of a movie theatre. The building appears to be at least minimally maintained.
It was announced in September 2011 that proposals were being made to refurbish the building as the Queen Theatre. Renovation work began in 2012.
Contributed by
Bob Machann
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Cole Theaters operated a Lamar Theater in Richmond, and ads in old Fort Bend County newspapers advertised movie schedules for the Lamar. Was this and the Queen one and the same?
Here is a 1983 photo of the Lamar Theater building and this is a recent photo of the former Queen Theater on Morton Street. I think the Lamar and Queen are one in the same.
This house was called the Queen before it was the Lamar. Unless the original name was later restored (I can’t find any evidence that it was), the page should be renamed. Boxoffice of August 25, 1951, had this information in an item about the installation of an air conditioning and heating system in the Lamar: “It’s the first major work on the house since it opened in October of 1946. Operated years ago as the Queen Theatre and later as the Cole, the Lamar has served three generations of Richmond moviegoers.”
The Queen in Richmond is mentioned in Motion Picture Times of June 17, 1930, when H.A. Kruger sold his half interest in the house to his partner, Mart Cole. The pair had opened the house in 1928. Cole still owned the Lamar in 1951. The Cole circuit also opened a 256-seat house called the Dixie at Richmond in 1950.
I’ve found items about the October, 1946, opening of the Cole Theatre, but have found no indication that it was an entirely new building or that anything untoward had happened to the original Queen Theatre building. It appears to have been an extensive remodeling, but I can’t be positive. If the Queen burned, I can’t find anything about it in Boxoffice, and I can’t believe that Boxoffice would have passed up an opportunity to report a major theater fire. I’ve also been unable to find the date of the name change to Lamar Theatre.
I haven’t found any information for a Dixie Theater. In 1935 there is a 275 seat Queen Theater listed for Richmond. By 1940 the Queen is no longer listed but there is a 275 seat Cole’s (their spelling, not mine) Theater that year. In 1945 the only theater listed for Richmond is the 275 seat Cole Theater. In 1950 the 275 seat Cole Theater is listed along with the 750 seat Lamar Theater. Both the Cole and Lamar theaters are still listed in 1955.
The Queen Theater probably was later known as the Cole Theater. If the Queen/Cole Theater became the Lamar Theater, it must have gone through a major remodel to have the seating almost tripled. It’s possible that the Film Daily continued to list the Cole Theater after it became the Lamar Theater, but listing the Cole for almost a decade after the name was changed to Lamar is kind of strange even for the Film Daily.
The street number for the Lamar Theater is 206 Morton Street.
This theatre has been purchased and is undergoing planning for refurbishment and operation as The Queen Theatre. www.queentheatre.org
I saw “for sale” signs on this theater. Did the revival effort fall through?