Texas Theater
119 Eighth Street,
Ballinger,
TX
76821
119 Eighth Street,
Ballinger,
TX
76821
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I heard that the Texas Theater is being reopened as a dinner and movie theater. I saw some work being done on it about two weeks ago. I was wondering if anyone can confirm this or not.
Still standing as of 2011 a photo (not from 2011) of the Texas Theater in Ballinger.
Here are 1984 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Photo3
1992 Photo
Hello MBaird. As per your 2007 comment concerning questions would you please contact me @ Thanks
Don…
Hello MBaird. As per your 2007 comment concerning questions would you please contact me @ Thanks
Don…
A close up of the second Texas Theater box office.
The Texas Theater is listed in 1955 with 808 seats.
ken mc, The photo you are linking to is the original Texas Theatre along with the Texas Grill (notice the Texas Grill sign). My father was the owner of the Texas Grill when it burned and I was 16 years old at the time. He had no insurance and lost everything. He rebuilt it around the other side of the block on the corner opposite the Runnels County Courthouse. The sign was moved and is still there.
The previous pictures of the “Texas Theatre” are after the fire and are the old Palace Theatre renamed (it was originally for minorities). The suggestion that the fire started in the Grill are the first I have heard. I have always understood that local teens had played with fireworks in the theatre and later a smoldering seat broke into flames causing the fire.
BTW the business on the left side of the threatre was Daughteries Drug store before it became a beauty salon.
Any other questions, just ask. I was there.
This is supposed to be the Texas Theater in Ballinger, circa 1940. It doesn’t look like the other photos that have been posted, however. Perhaps there were two incarnations of the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/2z9oo4
The first Texan was destroyed on 1/8/62, according to the Austin Statesman:
Bellinger Fire Destroys Theater
Fire of undetermined origin destroyed the Texas Theater, a grill and a beauty shop early today in downtown Ballinger. The fire apparently started in the grill and spread rapidly. No estimate of the loss was made immediately but it was termed Ballinger’s largest fire since 1946 when another theater burned. Fire departments from Ballinger, Winters and Coleman battled the blaze.
Here is a recent photo of the Texas Theater.
is this for sale???
My photograph of the TEXAS in Ballinger View link
This is a color photo of the Texas Theater.
Yes,I have lived in Ballinger for about 1 ½ years and the first
time I seen the TEXAS theater I was just in amazed by it.And was sad
that it just sits there.You can just imagine the history.And was
wondering why noone has ever restored it.I would almost bet that if
it where possible the community and business of Ballinger would
donate,volunteer there time and money to see TEXAS open again.I
know I would help.We could restore to the way it was back then.
It would give our kids of all ages something to do.And could have
a family night.And the people in Ballinger could be proud of
what they have done as a community project.Just sit there a moment
and imagine it!
Rose, they put a new roof on it in 2002 so that is why I thought there were going to do something with it. I understand that there is a restoration plan for the original Texas theatre across the street at 120 Eighth St., do you know anything about that? (It is the red brick building that is used for parking, with the entrace to the parking where the entrancce to the theatre used to be.)
Yes……..I was in there about 3 years ago. I have the sign that was in the window where you paid that told how much cost….the movie, balcony seats…ect. I wanted to buy it years ago but someone came in and distroyed the inside by pulling out most of the seats and I went up to the balcony and the projection room. That junk is the Fultons……they have juck boxes and all kinds of pinball machines there. But it is still an awsome place…..great memories. and the roof was awful when I went in. I think it was repaired.
It was the best times of my young life.
Rose
The vertical sign that is on this Texas theatre didn’t come from the original Texas across the street. The vertical on the Texas that is now a parking lot was a V flat against the building. By the way the exterior of the Texas is in much better shape than the interior. The only part of the interior that is not a mess is the old balcony. On the main floor there are seats piled on top of each other the stage is laoded with junk, the screen is gone completely. The projefction room is pretty much intact and there is still a reel of film in one of the projectors.
When I was young, my favorite thing was to go to the movies. We had 3 walk in movie theaters and two drive-in theaters. Only one remains and it is closed for many years. I will get a picture of it….Texas Theater is the name. I have such wonderful memories of those times. My Mother would give me a dollar and I watched double features…of course all the Elvis movies and of course Frankie and Annette all those beach party movies…lol. I will take a pic and put it in the blank space for all to see…at least the outside.
Thanks for having such a wonderful site.
Rose
Nope, sorry. I was living in San Antonio when I took the trip to Ballinger and points beyond.
My mother grew up in Ballinger and I went to the “old” Texas many times when visiting my grandparents as a kid. I particularly remember the Bowery Boys comedies and the previews of “TARANTULA” in 1956. The “old” Texas lasted into the early/mid-1960s and then burned. My uncle said, “They hired a good arsonist who didn’t get caught.” The sign was moved across the street to the other theater several years later. Ballinger also had a third theater on Main Street. I never saw it open, but the building is still recognizable as a theater from the projection booth windows above the entrance. It was a restaurant last time I was in town. According to my uncle, the three were never all open at the same time. There were also two drive-ins in Ballinger, the Horseshoe to the South and the Hillcrest on the Bronte highway. I saw “The Private Lives of Adam and Eve” with Mamie van Doren(!) at the Hillcrest in 1961, one of the first drive-in movies I actually drove myself to. A Miracle-Grow plant now occupies the site, but the original drive-in entrance is still there, with posters from the closing bill still in place (as of about 2002, at least). Ah, memories. To Seth: I have a cousin in Ballinger named Seth—could that be you?
I saw that building. The front facade is still up, and you drive in through the middle to park. Didn’t look like a theater to me. I wonder if the sign came from this one.
The Texas opened as the Palace Theatre and was renamed after a remodel and the original Texas Theatre across the street at 120 Eighth Street was destroyed by fire. The address for the Texas theatre posted here is 119 Eighth Street, Ballinger, Tx. The original Texas across the street is now a parking lost.