Wichita Theatre and Opera House

919 Indiana Avenue,
Wichita Falls, TX 76301

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Related Websites

Wichita Theatre and Opera House (Official)

Additional Info

Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Plitt Theatres

Architects: H. F. Pettigrew, John A. Worley

Firms: Pettigrew & Worley

Functions: Movies, Performing Arts

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Previous Names: Wichita Theatre, Wichita Opera House

Phone Numbers: Box Office: 940.723.9037

Nearby Theaters

1966

The Wichita Theatre opened on December 21, 1908. It was remodelled by architectural firm Pettigrew & Worley in 1939. It closed as a movie theatre in July 1980. It is still open and operating as a performing arts center.

Contributed by Wes Reeves

Recent comments (view all 23 comments)

JamesEBohenek
JamesEBohenek on December 30, 2007 at 1:18 pm

All I recall about HTWWW is that it was Cinerama in Dallas. I don’t remember any publicity for it and I didn’t see the movie. It might have been 70mm. The Village in Fort Worth publicized all their 70mm presentations but we always drove to Wichita Falls since it was closer to Bowie. Can you believe schools made “field trips” to The Ten Commandments? Remember the Saturday matinees for kids? Remember the William Castle movies with gimmicks? We missed the dual-projector polarized 3-D movies in the early 50’s but we saw The Mask with anaglyph 3-D sequences in downtown Wichita Falls.

randini
randini on December 30, 2007 at 1:31 pm

I saw “The Mask” too and remember that damned tiled head as just about the scariest thing! That would probably have been at the Strand or State (where you could go afterwards to Thomas’s across the street and load up on fake vomit and other childhood delights of the era).It’s possible I may have seen “Hondo” in 3-D, but when I saw the recent restoration at the Academy I remembered nothing about it.I also doubt if the Wichita’s booth could accomodate four interlocked projectors. Dallas' Cinerama house was the Capri (ex-Melba) downtown.

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on April 22, 2008 at 1:53 pm

A 1984 view of the Wichita Theater, a 1988 view here and a 2007 view of the box office.

Patsy
Patsy on April 22, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Don Lewis: Great photos of a theatre I do remember when I was living in Wichita Falls (1970-1971). Hubby was with the USAF at Sheppard in the finance office.

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on April 23, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Hello Patsy and thanks for noticing the photos! The credit actually goes to Billy Smith for taking them; I am editing and doing the submissions.

Don………..

JamesEBohenek
JamesEBohenek on May 17, 2009 at 11:35 pm

It’s my understanding that dual strip 3-D used only two projectors. There were intermissions for changeovers. Hard to believe but perhaps the disruptions were minimized by larger reels. What were the reel durations? 20 and 60 minutes? Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin did authentic polarized dual projector presentations several years ago but of course platters now enable non-stop projection which is what we experienced.

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on December 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm

From 1975, a movie ad for the Wichita Theatre in Wichita Falls.

Don…

CheckerBird
CheckerBird on April 25, 2013 at 8:21 am

The Wichita Theater is now operating as a church: One Life, a contemporary Christian evangelical community church (www.onelifecc.org). The building immediately to the north has been also connected and it’s really nicely fixed up now.

JamesEBohenek
JamesEBohenek on October 23, 2016 at 10:24 am

Dial M For Murder is streaming on PopcornFlix on Roku. It is Free with Commercials or pay 99 cents to view without commercials. There was an Intermission at 54 minutes.

rivest266
rivest266 on November 26, 2021 at 12:14 am

This opened (or older building) opened on December 21st, 1908. Grand opening ad posted.

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