COUNTY LIFE
Now showing: Texas Theater returns
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The Texas Theater was established on the Saint Jo town square in the 1920s during an era of the first “talkies” led by “The Jazz Singer” and popular Saturday serials like “Rin Tin Tin.”
John Wayne surely ran many a head of cattle through the theater, while Greta Garbo’s sultry style filled the screen. Bugs Bunny followed Flash Gordon, not to mention all the gangster and monster movies filled the square.
Today the former dry goods store, theater and Masonic Lodge has been given life again as a theater bringing Hollywood to small town Texas.
The history
The theater is the creation of Craig Olden and Tom Weger, plus Weger’s daughter, Kate Clark and a team of creative craftsmen. Weger operates Coppell Construction in Saint Jo and has been active on the local business scene as the former owner of King’s Hotel on the town square
The theater building is on the west side of the square a few doors north of the Saint Jo Tribune. It operated as The New York Store, a dry goods store. Built in 1879 it was composed of two long, narrow buildings. Later it was modified into a theater in the 1920s,and in 1956 it was purchased by the Masonic lodge.
Used by the group for many years it was sold to Craig Olden around 2015. Weger says Olden bought it with the intention of doing something like the theater. The Masons had decided to downsize as far as a building was concerned, so the group purchased another building a few blocks way Weger assisted with renovating the new lodge building.
Olden and Weger began talking about the theater project as they both wanted to put it back into public use whether it be with movies which Olden liked or live theater which Weger liked.
Read the full feature in the weekend Bowie News.
Do you have unwanted computer components such a desktop computers, laptop computers, LCD monitors, keyboards, mice, scanners, printers, battery back-up units, etc., that you don’t know how to dispose of properly?
If so, members of the Montague Emergency Communications Team can help as they host the annual Computer Recycling Day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 19 at the Bowie City Hall parking lot at the corner of Mason and Pecan.
The team will recycle your unwanted computer components and insure they are disposed of properly, in an environmentally friendly manner. It is the perfect time to clean out that closet of nonworking or old electronics at your house.
They also will insure any computer hard drives are destroyed, thus preventing anyone from gaining access to personal information which may be left in the memory.
They also can accept sealed lead acid (SLA), nickel cadmium (NiCad), nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries for recycling. They cannot accept computer monitors or TV with cathod ray tubes.
This is a public service being offered at no cost to the community.
Any proceeds will benefit the Team and the Montague County SKYWARN program.
For details email kirk-@higginstx.com.
Bowie High School’s one-act play is just one step away from the state University Interscholastic League contest after it placed first in the area round on April 12.
The BHS play, “View From The Bridge,” will now move to regionals at Clyde Huff Pac in Clyde on April 23. The play is expected to perform at 2 p.m.
“We placed first in this round, and all the plays were phenomenal,” said Director April Word.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
In this week’s Bowie News pick up the health directory that will provide information on an array of medical services available in this region. It can be a handy resource throughout the year.
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