Palace Theatre
109 N. Elm Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
109 N. Elm Street,
Denton,
TX
76201
2 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Trans-Texas Theatres
Previous Names: Strand Theatre
Nearby Theaters
In September 1922 Grover Campbell purchased the Strand Theatre from Lee Poole who had opened it in November of 1920. Campbell remodeled the theatre and renamed it the Palace Theatre. It changed hands once more in 1932 when Interstate Theatres Inc. took it over.
Interstate Theatres Inc. remodeled it into a top rate attraction which had a twenty four year run, closing as a movie theatre in June of 1950. It was then used as a special events venue which closed in 1956. The Palace Theatre stood door to door with the Dreamland Theatre and Texan Theatre on what was known as "theater row" on Elm Street.
Contributed by
Billy Holcomb / Billy Smith / Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
A view from 1938 of the Palace Theater in Denton Texas.
Is this theatre still standing?
Then why hasn’t someone or some preservation/arts group restored at least one of them on “Theater Row”? BTW, if you are in Texas have you ever been to the newly restored Palace in Georgetown TX (suburb of Austin)?
/theaters/10269/
Texas preservation groups are in the minority, and most who can do anything pertaining to old movie palace’s have no sense of history.
Many structures which housed old theaters still stand, but most are
too young to realize they onced were theaters.
It is an uphill battle everywhere, but in Texas, old theaters are
at the bottom of the list for consideration, although they were so
much for progress half a century ago.
Pictures are very rare of old theaters, but show up on Don’s site. billy h.
panhandle: Thanks for the updated information concerning Texas preservation groups though a sad scenario.
If the three theaters on the west side of the square were all in a row, the address of the Palace must have been 109 N. Elm Street. The Texas/Fine Arts was on a double lot at 113-115 N. Elm, which would have put the Dreamland next door at 111 N. Elm, and so the Palace would have been at 109 N. Elm. The lots at 105-107 are now a parking lot, and the Sherman Building occupies the double corner lot at 101-103.
I can’t find a construction year for the building currently at 109 N. Elm, but the building at 111, on the site of the Dreamland, was built in 1955, according to the property report on this page at City-Data.com. As the building at 109 has a facade almost identical to the building at 111, and both are the same height, they look like they were built at the same time.
At the very least, everything between the side walls of the Palace was probably gutted, and an entirely new facade (and probably roof) built in 1955.
According to the Denton Record-Chronicle, I found evidence that the Palace Theatre operated as a movie house until June of 1950. I cannot find other attractions later than that period. It literally became a special events theater afterward.