Eltex Theatre
21 N. Main Street,
Elgin,
TX
78621
21 N. Main Street,
Elgin,
TX
78621
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 3 comments
The New Eltex opened on September 25, 1941 with Edward G. Robinson and Marlene Dietrich in “Manpower.” The New Eltex replaced the former nickelodeon-era Imp Theatre that had been wired for sound and renamed the New Theatre and the Eltex Theatre in the early 1930s.
Operater Dale Wilson and partner Joe I. Diddy built the new streamline moderne moviehouse here in the existing Standifer Building in 1941. They closed the nickelodeon-era venue and original Eltex on September 24, 1941. Less than a year later, Wilson would reopen the original Eltex to accommodate the WW2 era crowds as the Elgin Theatre. In the 1950s, the Elgin closed as the town continued with one hardtop theater.
The venue operated with a balcony for African American and Hispanic patrons. There were no rest room facilities provided for non-White customers. That policy changed in the 1960s. Art Gomez was the final Eltex Theatre operator. It was twice set afire by an arsonist or arsonists in the 1980s. The final Eltex Theatre showtime was April 24, 1983 when the second fire gutted the interior. The building was considered a total loss and later demolished. By all accounts, it had a single operational name as the Eltex Theatre.
Elgin had another indoor theatre beside the Eltex, called just the Elgin Theatre. They were open at the same time. I have ads for the Elgin but no other information.
The property that the theatre building sat on is now a parking lot.