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 Texas Theatre
N 32° 44.593 W 096° 49.564
14S E 703686 N 3624911
The historic marker in front of the Texas Theater, where Lee Harvey Oswald hid on the day he was being hunted for killing Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippitt and assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
Waymark Code: WMJKWN
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/01/2013
Views: 14
The Texas Theater is an important part of the darkest day in Dallas. The historical marker for it was finally created and installed in 2013.
Mama Blaster's father was on Dealey Plaza that terrible day, and was an eyewitness to the death of President Kennedy.
Marker Number: 17723
Marker Text:
Constructed in 1931, the Texas Theatre was designed by architect W. Scott Dunne. The “Texas,” the largest suburban theater in Texas when it was built, is an “atmospheric” theater, a genre designed to enhance the fantasy and exoticism of the movies. The two-story building, originally owned by C. R. McHenry, is located at the commercial heart of the community of Oak Cliff. The original appearance of the theater evoked an Italian medieval structure with Venetian influences expressed in the decorative brickwork and stone.
The interior of the theater was designed with a Venetian Court theme, complete with sound effects, clouds, and night sky of 118 twinkling stars in the auditorium. The original movie equipment was Motiograph Deluxe sound equipment, an extreme rarity at the time. The cooling and ventilating was almost entirely invisible to the audience and consisted of two blowers powered by ten horsepower motors. In warm weather, the air was cooled through water. A renovation prior to 1956 resulted in the addition of stucco over the brick and stone façade.
On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended inside the auditorium for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, propelling the Texas Theatre into the international spotlight. In April 1965, the theater was remodeled extensively on the exterior and interior. The uppermost section of the façade was removed and the theater’s vibrant designs were sealed under stucco. The theater closed in 1989 but had a short revival in 1991 when it was used in the filming of the movie “JFK.” In 2001, the Oak Cliff Foundation bought the theater. This Dallas landmark was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2013
Marker is Property of the State of Texas
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Visit Instructions:
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