Pecos Theatre

Described by the Fort Stockton Pioneer as “an early morning inferno,” the Pecos Theatre was completely gutted by fire on January 11, 1976. It was said that only the shell of the building remained.

The Pecos Theatre opened on August 20, 1941, on the site of the Grand Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire on July 14, 1940. The theatre, built in three months, was owned by S.C. Johnson and leased to Westex Theatres for $250 a month. The Film Daily Year Book of 1942 lists the Pecos Theatre with 800 seats.

Westex Theatres was formed in 1929 with locationd in Haskell, Seymour, Spur, Anson and Baird and later became an affiliate of R.E. Griffith Theatres. By 1947 Griffith Theatres had 180 locations in Texas and Oklahoma.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s the operator was Theatre Enterprises (up to 1947 called H.J. Griffith Theatres), which later became Frontier Theatres. In January of 1968 Frontier Theatres, which had 72 locations in New Mexico and Texas, merged with Commonwealth Theatres.

Despite encouragement by the city, Commonwealth Theatres never rebuilt the Pecos Theatre.

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