Gem Theatre
206 S. Side Square,
Waco,
TX
76706
206 S. Side Square,
Waco,
TX
76706
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This was an African-American theatre on Waco’s South Side Square. The Gem Theatre was operating prior to 1940. A tornado collapsed the roof of the auditorium on May 11, 1953 with only the four walls standing.
The operators took over the long-closed former Gayety Theatre at 115-117 Bridge Street and reopened it as the Gem Theatre which closed around 1955.
Contributed by
Jake Vanek
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The Gem Theatre is listed in Film Daily Yearbook editions between 1940 and 1955 as a Negro theatre. It had a seating capacity of 558.
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The Gayety Picture Show renamed the Gayety Theatre at 115-117 Bridge was the first African American movie theater in Waco. It opened in 1915 and was still operating in 1929 as a silent theater. The Gayety converted to sound to remain viable but was listed as closed in October 1936.
Sometime in the late 1930s – most likely 1939 – the Gem Theatre opened and was the African American Theatre of choice on the square. Its roof collapsed onto the auditorium destroying the theater space despite all four walls standing during the May 11, 1953 deadly tornado that ravaged downtown Waco. That storm also damaged the former Gayety Theatre building, as well as destroying the Joy Theatre and damaging the Fox Theater.
The Gem operators repaired and reconfigured the damaged 115-117 Bridge Street / Gayety Building. The former Gayety location comes back to life as the “New” Gem Theatre beginning Dec. 19, 1953 and advertising until January 1962. It’s likely that the theater operated through a ten-year lease until March 1963 without advertising as the theater space is offered for lease in 1964. The space was next used for the Gayety Hotel.
In 1969, the building housing the Gayety Hotel and former “New” Gem Theatre at 115-117 Bridge was marked for demolition by the Waco Urban Renewal Agency and a fire on October 28, 1969 did a great deal of the work. A second fire on August 30, 1970 completed the task as around 200 people gathered to watch the building burn. Its remnants were cleaned up not long after.