The Border Theatre was built in 1942 with a unique Art Pueblo architectural style. It showed movies here for decades, but today (2015) is used more as a performance space with occasional movie screenings.
The Border Theatre was named to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
From the City Of Mission website, some history of the Border Theatre: (
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"Border Theatre
Border Theatre
905 N. Conway
Mission, TX 78572
(956) 585-4122
The historic Border Theatre is located in downtown Mission and is one of the last remaining theaters with Art Pueblo Styling. The Border Theatre is virtually the same inside and outside as when it was constructed in 1942. Two wall-to-wall murals, which capture scenes in the Rio Grande Valley prior to the modernization of the area, cover the inside of the Border Theatre. The Border Theatre remains a family-owned venue, but it no longer shows movies every night, instead hosting arts performances and special movie screenings."
And from the Border Theatre website itself: (
visit link)
"One of the last left in Texas with art pueblo styling, The Border Theater is virtually the same inside and out as it was when
constructed in 1942. Located on Mission's Main Street, The Border Theater has provided three generations of residents and visitors
with the finest movies in a typical border setting for more than sixty five years.
Around the ticket booth, colorful tiles contain scenes of a time past. Illustrated are scenes of early residents and their homes.
A man hitches his burro to a post, a Mexican couple draws water from an old well and a covered wagon advances on the crude little mission near the border.
Around the Border Theater, the remnants of old Mission remain. Below the ticket booth, colorful mosaic portray expressive scenes of a simpler time. One such tile shows a man wearing the traditional sombrero, carrying a serape, playing a guitar and singing to a woman seated on a low stone fence.
Other tiles in the entry way reflect similar scenes of life in early Mission. Inside the theater, two massive wooden columns connect the floor to the high ceiling, and two staircases lead visitors to the balcony.
Thye theater lobby also houses the snack bar where patrons can treat themselves to hot dogs, freshly popped popcorn, candy and other refreshments. Two huge murals cover the inside walls of the theater.
Painted by Dallas artist E. Risser in 1942, these murals have captured scenes in the Rio Grande Valley and the city of Mission, Texas before modernization touched the area.
The Border Theater was the fifth and most beautiful movie house to be built by Valley theater pioneers, Robert N. and Dell Smith.
The theater also has the historic distinction of being the first with air conditioning throughout the building.
Designed by William J. Moore, a Dallas theater architect, the Border opened April 3, 1942, with the Roy Rogers movie "Heart of Rio Grande".
The Border Theater has a seating capacity of 500. The balcony still contains the original seats,while those on the main floor were replaced in 1967. The auditorium added a wide-view Cinemascope screen in 1952.
Ownership of the Border Theater has changed several times in its sixty-five plus years of operation.
Current owners Joseph and Erma Ramientos of Mission would like residents to enjoy movies in the atmosphere reminiscent of the early 1940's. Their goal is to make the Border Theater a family movie theater,a place where parents can take their kids confident of what kind of movie they will be seeing.
For your next event, private showing or school field trip, please contact Joseph at (956) 369-3603 or Erma at (956) 605-1811.
Thank you."