Grand Theatre
Electra, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Electra's population surge in the 1910s led local business leaders to hire Meador & Wolfe of Ft. Worth to design a theatre to accommodate the town's growing entertainment needs. It opened here in 1920 and featured vaudeville, operas, boxing and other events. It included an orchestra pit which later housed an organ and piano for silent movies. It has been both a movie house and a performing arts venue. The Grand's eclectic design features Mission and Classical elements done with emphasis on fancy and fantasy. Panels with swags and piers frame a vault motif. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Electra's population swelled during the North Texas oil era of the 1910s, local business leaders commissioned Fort Worth architects Meador & Wolfe to design a proper entertainment house. Opened in 1920, the Grand hosted vaudeville, opera, boxing, and silent films—its orchestra pit later fitted with an organ and piano to accompany the movies. Its eclectic Mission-and-Classical design, full of swags, piers, and a vaulted motif, reflected the boomtown's appetite for fancy and fantasy.
Why it matters
The Grand captures how oil-boom prosperity transformed small Texas towns, giving working communities grand civic spaces for culture and entertainment.
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Themes & tags
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