Texan Theater
110 S. Bell Street,
Hamilton,
TX
76531
110 S. Bell Street,
Hamilton,
TX
76531
1 person
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This small 304 seat theater in Hamilton first opened in 1928, and was destroyed by fire after an explosion on May 9, 1949.
It was rebuilt in 1950, with a seating capacity of 500. The ‘new’ Texan Theatre was designed by architect Jack Corgan. It operated into the 1980’s.
It was destroyed by a fire on the evening of November 27, 2009.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
This is a 2008 photo of the Texan.
Tonight the Hamilton Texan Theater burnt down. The fire started around 9 p.m. and is still burning @ 12:00. This is truly a sad moment in history and in Hamilton, it is now demolished.
I am from NY, and I hear your cries and that of locals. Willing demolition due to a developer’s greed is bad enough, but it is additionally sad when it happens unexpectedly due to fire. It is truly indeed a sad day. I hope the cause is investigated, and a conclusion is made. When the timing is right, the theater owners should realize the pivotal role the theater played in the community, and in conjunction with elected officials, and community residents, rebuild a historic Art Deco gem; an endangered species countrywide.
The theater does not map out to the address on 110 S. Bell, for reasons unknown. Here is the pre-fire view:
http://tinyurl.com/yj6ts9x
Sorry KenMC that is NOT the prefire view. The prefire view was a resurfaced building that the current owner put a lot of time and money into. She did her research, talked to many a resident (including Bobby Thompson), bought books that referenced the old theater, found the colors that were as close to the original colors as possible, contacted the state historical society, and invested about 20-30k into the restoration of that theater.
There are pictures out there on the web of a beautiful theater with bright blue doors, cream and peach walls with maroon trimmed tiles. The picture that is currently posted was probably taken around the time the Shultz/McCullough’s owned it or maybe even before that when the Pettits had it.
You cannot rely on google mapping. Main St. divides North & South Bell St. When you hit the map in the header it clearly shows the theatre on the South side of Main St. Also if you look at the map it shows in print the Texan on the South Bell side of Main St. So the address is correct. In the book “History of the Texas Motion Picture Theatres” it gives the address at 110 S. Bell. Also the photo of Google mapping is out dated.
From 1984 a view of the Texan Theater, a view of the Texan from 2008 and from 2010 of the empty lot left behind after the 2009 fire.
Wow first an explosion,rebuilt and then a fire,thats bad luck.
We built this basic site to remember the TEXAN. Hope you enjoy the images.
http://web.me.com/studiotrey/TEXAN_Theater/Texan.html
texas25th: enjoyed the pics on the site even though it’s a shame the theatre was destroyed.