Campus Theatre
214 W. Hickory Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
214 W. Hickory Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
3 people
favorited this theater
The Campus Theatre was constructed in 1949 as the Southwest’s premiere movie theater for Denton, Texas.
Over 30 tons of steel was used to construct the movie theater and it cost over half a million dollars to build.
Numerous movie stars have visited the Campus Theatre from John Wayne to Warren Beatty who appeared at the Campus when Bonnie and Clyde premiered here in 1967.
Today, it is a performing arts facility. Over 32,000 visitors come each year to see live performaces at the Campus.
Contributed by
Scot S. Wilkinson
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
Don….Don’t quote me on this, but I think both of those towns are in Texas. ;) I was just curious about the Rietta Drive-In. I had never heard of it before I saw the photo. I haven’t found a location for the Rietta other than it was west of Henrietta. And Henrietta did have hardtop theaters. I found two of them. And now, back to Denton….
Hi Guys,
Gotta put in my two cents.
Yes, Henrietta is a very small town in North Central
Texas.
Population in 2000 was just over 3,000. It’s not
considered a neighbor of Denton and nowhere near it's
size. Denton has two universities and is the county
seat. Heck, when I went to North Texas ( now UNT ) our
university alone had 12,000. I think back then with
TWU we made half the population of 40,000. I think
Denton is closer to 130,000 now.
The Campus (off square note your photo you can see the
courthouse over neighboring building) is still there
they are live performance theater, the Fine Arts ( on
the square ) still stands, hosts a church I believe,
the XXX Theater ( on square )long ago closed but is
now occupied by a business. There was at least one
other movie theater away from the square on University
Drive I think. I got a ticket for a red light there
after we’d seen some movie on rodeos done in the
fashion of “On Any Given Sunday”. I seem to remember 2
drive-in theaters but can’t recall names. Do remember
seeing “Death Race 2000” (starring David Carradine) at
the drive-in north of town. We had a car full, it
rained buckets, and we were more interested in downing
the case of beer we brought! Still it was a funny
movie then and now.
As for theaters there now? Well, there’s a large mall
south of town on I-35 called Golden Triangle Mall.
There’s bound to be a plex there and more around town.
Town’s changed alot since my college days in 1970's
Ken
Another photo of the Campus Theater is here.
Photo1
Photo2
A promo shot for the October 1949 opening of the Campus Theatre in Denton Texas.
This is a recent night photo.
Here is a 2009 photo.
October 4th, 1949 grand opening ad is at View link
This theater has now been officiallyy designated as a Texas landmark: View link
Three examples of inexpensive “flash” fronts in 1955: boxoffice