The Park Theater is located about 1/2 block west of the square in downtown Liberty. In 2017 it is the home of the Liberty Opry, but in the 1930s it probably drew travelers from surrounding Liberty County towns to the OST to catch the latest Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart movie.
From the Cinema Treasures website: (
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"The beautiful restored Park Theatre sits in a small town right outside Houston Texas.
In June of 1993, the Cox Family, John W., John A., Jerry, Jim and Kerry, opened the doors of the Liberty Opry to the public.
The Cox family wanted a place to play the music they love and provide a clean atmosphere for all.
The Liberty Opry has been going strong now and is currently having shows every weekend.
The theatre also has a cafe next to it (Opry Cafe). People come see and show and stay to eat. The theatre is a jewel to Liberty and Liberty County.
The seats in the theatre are from the old Music Hall in Houston. They are gold and are still in great shape."
The SH 3 was one of the earliest highways in Texas, being one of the original 26 state highways that were designated in 1917.
From Wikipedia: (
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"SH 3 was one of the original twenty six state highways proposed in 1917, overlaid on top of the Southern National Highway (and Old Spanish Trail - BMB). From 1919, the routing mostly followed present day U.S. Highway 90 from Orange to Houston and San Antonio through to Del Rio."
The SH3/OST passed through Liberty, a small town between Beaumont and Houston. The OST was co-designated with the SH 3 until 1926, when the Auto Trails and some major state highways were reclassified as federal highways. This part of the OST/SH 3 was designated US 90, and gradually both the OST and SH 3 names faded. By 1938 the designation of this road as SH 3 was completely dropped. See: (
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"[page 12] The Texas Highway Commission affirmed the importance of the Old Spanish Trail in 1921, when it identified most of SH 3 as part of the Federal Aid Highway System. (Refer to Figure 46 previous Section I.4.)
The Commission also reiterated the 1917 identity of SH 3 as beginning near Orange and ending in Del Rio. Elements of the highway in the System between those two points included stretches between Orange, Beaumont, Nome, Devers, Liberty, Crosby, Houston, Sugarland, Richmond, East Bernard, Eagle Lake, Columbus, Weimar, Flatonia, and Waelder. The route of SH 3 within the Federal Aid Highway System resumed in Gonzales and went to Seguin, Schertz, San Antonio, Castroville, Hondo, Sabinal, Uvalde, Brackettville, and Del Rio."