Old Blanco Theater Building
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The structure originally built on this site in the early 1900s was used as a cafe and, for a short time, a place to show silent movies. In 1938 it was rebuilt and converted to a conventional theater, complete with “silver screen,” curtain-covered stage, ticket booth, theater marquee with prominent “Blanco” sign mounted high on the building facade, and concrete-capped stepped parapet. (Note the small projection booth window in the center of the facade.) Tickets were originally thirty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children, and operating hours were 6:30-1:00 p.m. Friday and Monday and 1:00-11:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The show always consisted of a cartoon and comedy, the featured movie, a newsreel, and coming attractions.
The theater was also used for various civic activities such as public meetings and high school graduation exercises (until 1960). The first meeting of the newly incorporated city of Blanco was held here in 1938.
In the late 1950s the Blanco Theater closed and in the 1970s it underwent major interior and exterior modifications including removal of the “Blanco” sign. Only the marquee remains. The building has most recently been used as a print shop.
This building is the northernmost of three adjoining buildings erected in 1938 for W. D. Glascock (along with Glascock Buildings #1 and #2). It is a lofty one-story smooth limestone-faced building representing a mid-20th-century stage of commercial architecture.