DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Palace Theater in Childress, Texas. Now settle in, because this place has earned its name twice over. F.M.
Phipps and G.S. Layton opened the Palace Theater in 1926, and right from the start, this was somewhere people came to be transported — out of their ordinary week and into something bigger on a silver screen. But the Palace had a hard road ahead of it.
Fire came once, and the theater survived. Then fire came again, and the second time, in 1936, it burned the place clean to the ground. Now, most stories end right there.
That's where you'd put the period. But not this one. Phipps' widow, Mable, and Layton's son G.R. looked at that ash and rubble and decided the story wasn't finished.
They brought in W. Scott Dunne of Dallas to design a brand new moviehouse right there on the same site. A builder named H.J.
Naylor put it up, and come February 1937, the Palace reopened its doors. And it didn't come back small — it came back with Art Moderne style, zigzag patterning on the facade, the kind of bold geometry that says this building means business. The Palace Barber Shop and the City Newsstand also operated out of that same building, so you could get your hair cut, pick up a paper, and catch a picture show all in one stop.
The theater ran for decades before closing in the 1980s. What stands today in Childress is a significant reminder, the marker says so plainly, of 20th-century life in this part of Texas. Two founders, two fires, one widow and one son who refused to quit — that's the Palace Theater, and that's how a building earns a little permanence.
What the marker says
F.M. Phipps and G.S. Layton opened the Palace Theater in 1926. The theater suffered two fires, the second burning it to the ground in 1936. Phipps' widow, Mable, and Layton's son G.R. hired W. Scott Dunne of Dallas to design a new moviehouse at the site. Built by H.J. Naylor, the Palace reopened in February 1937, and the Palace Barber Shop and City Newsstand also operated from the building. The theater closed in the 1980s. The building's Art Moderne architectural features, including zigzag patterning, and the theater's history are significant reminders of 20th-century Childress. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2005