Texan Theatre

J.A. Guest saw something that few others had - Hubbard, Texas needed a modern movie theatre. The town of 1,768 residents was already serviced by two movie theatres - the long-standing Crystal Theatre that had opened in 1913 and the Uptown Theatre- a diminutive Depression era movie house (both have their own pages on Cinema Treasures). Guest decided to add a third theatre in downtown Hubbard in 1947 - the Texan Theatre. Guest’s Texan Theatre was the first and only post-war theatre in the town’s history, a not fancy but modern 600-seater.

The operator of the other two theatres, Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie Fadal, Jr., must have been despondent about the new competition. After all, they had just purchased the Crystal Theatre and Uptown Theatre from their original owner, Chester W. Niece, about a year earlier. The Fadals sold the Uptown Theatre and Crystal Theatre to Guest to end the competition that was straining both operators.

Guest continued operation of all three venues until disaster struck on November 18, 1951. The Texan Theatre burned down with the fire starting just minutes after the last show of the night. Water pressure was low and firefighters were unable to salvage the building. While it was gutted and would be razed, the firefighters prevented the blazed from spreading to other downtown structures.

Guest would shutter the Crystal Theatre and the Uptown Theatre as - despite no competition for the movie dollar - the impact of television was too great to survive. The Texan Theatre was only around for a short period, but showed the competitive nature of the movie business in a small Texas town.

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