Rio Theatre

110 N. 5th Street,
Brownfield, TX 79316

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Additional Info

Functions: Storage

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Nearby Theaters

Rio Theater ... Brownfield Texas

The Rio Theatre was opened October 3, 1938. It was a Spanish language only theatre when I was a kid in the early-1960’s in Brownfield. I remember that they popped corn in a glassed in area that faced the street. It closed in 1969. The only thing that remains is the building in use as a clothing warehouse, with no clues that it was ever a theatre.

Contributed by Don Lewis

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

Seth
Seth on August 24, 2004 at 2:53 pm

Is the Rio the theater next to the old Post Office (now some sort of county office)? If so, it is being used as donated clothing storage. Brownfield is pretty dead. There were at least three theaters downtown, which are all closed.

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on August 24, 2004 at 3:26 pm

Yes, that is it. The building next door was a post office and then a city jail. The other theaters were the Rialto and the Regal. The Rialto is hanging on as some sort of live venue. Last but not least was the Rustic drive-in theater, now demolished. I recently posted all of these. “Pretty dead” is an accurate description although times were much better for Brownfield in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Seth
Seth on August 24, 2004 at 4:13 pm

The good old days, when the Skip-Bo factory was working three shifts ;) I should have taken a picture of the Rio, I got the other two, and was going to post them.

Seth
Seth on August 24, 2004 at 7:42 pm

Actually, I lived in San Antonio the past few years, but I got into taking road trips the last year and a half I lived there. Mostly looking for courthouses, but I discovered that theaters could be a joy to find as well. I graduated from Bellaire (Houston) in 1992.

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