When the Palace Theater in Spur closed in the 1970s it ended up belonging to the chamber of commerce, which offered to sell it to the county historical commission for ten dollars. The commission accepted the offer. They took a survey of citizens to see if they were interested in seeing the theater restored. They got a positive, enthusiastic response. “The Palace was built in 1929,” says Harry Bob Martin, Spur historian. “When we got it in 2007 the roof was falling in, bricks were falling off of it. It was just a wreck. It leaked like a sieve when it rained. We had no money.”
Harry says the historical group got busy raising money for the huge remodeling job. They sold memorial bricks for forty dollars and got some grant money. “In six weeks we raised $36,000.”
One of the first things they wanted to do was to restore the big Palace sign on the building. They hired a sign company in Abilene to do the work. It was a big event when the lighted sign was turned on. “The whole town was standing in the street in front of the theater. When they turned on the sign it blew the street lights out. The power company got it fixed right quick. We put it on a timer and it comes on every night. That was the beginning of our restoration effort.“ The last movie Roy Rogers made, McIntosh and PJ, was filmed around Spur. The city has a very active homecoming event every year when graduates of Spur High School return for a big weekend of reunion and celebration. It’s open to all classes. At one homecoming the historical commission rented some projection equipment and a screen and showed McIntosh and PJ in the Palace Theater.
“After the showing a guy was walking out and came up to me and said what a great event that was. He had graduated from Spur in 1964 when the theater was still showing movies. He asked me what was next for the theater. I told him it was just a dollar thing now and we were short on funds. He asked me if $50,000 would help. I said yeah.”
The man controlled funds for an entity that awarded grants and told Harry to apply. That man ended up contributing $100,000 to the rebuilding of the Palace. There were other grants and fundraisers. After the building was completed, the commission looked into digital projection equipment. “We took bids and bought some at a good price. Then we started looking for a screen. We built a steel frame for it. That was $1,500. I found the screen that’s up there now at Charley’s Movie Screen Company in Michigan. I bought it online for a little over $600. It’s 28 feet wide.”
The theater now has stage presentations and movies. “We charge five dollars for an adult ticket. Three dollars for a child.”
I had the pleasure of performing my new oneman show OUTRAGEOUS WOMEN OF TEXAS CHARATER at the Palace.