Liberty Theatre
109 Prairieville Street,
Athens,
TX
75751
109 Prairieville Street,
Athens,
TX
75751
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previous Names: Armory Theatre, Princess Theatre, Gem Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Armory Theatre was opened by 1914. By 1921 it had been renamed Princess Theatre. Around 1925 it was renamed Gem Theatre which closed in the early 1930’s. It reopened as the Liberty Theatre in 1936. It was demolished in the late-2000’s or early-2010’s
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
The correct name of the street is Prairieville Street. Also, this house can be marked as demolished. Historic Google street views show that the last old buildings on the west side of Athens' town square came down sometime between 2008 and 2013.
The Liberty Theatre and Dixie Theatre shared a courtesy ad in the 1944 yearbook of the local high school, suggesting a common ownership at that time.
The first appearance of the Liberty in the Film Daily Yearbook is 1936. It was listed with 400 seats.
The only theater listed at Athens in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Armory Theatre, and it was also located on the west side of the square, but I’ve been unable to find an address. Trade journals mention a house called the Princess Theatre in 1921 and 1922. A 250-seat house called the Gem Theatre appears in the FDY in 1928, is listed as closed in the early 1930s, then vanishes. The Gem might have been a theater that opened in late 1925 or early 1926, as reported in the December 12, 1925 issue of Universal Weekly:
As reports of them don’t overlap, there is some possibility that the Armory, Princess, Gem, and Liberty all occupied the same building, sequentially.