The Yucca Theatre

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in the heart of Midland, Texas, there stands a building that carries a story almost too good to be true. Almost.

This is the story of the Yucca Theatre, and every word of it is straight from the historical record. Now picture it. Nineteen twenty-seven.

The Permian Basin is humming with the sound of petroleum money, and Midland is growing fast, the kind of fast that makes a man start thinking about what a town really needs. That man was T.S. Hogan.

An oilman. A former Montana senator. And a fellow who apparently looked out at this booming stretch of West Texas and thought, what this place needs is a theatre.

Hogan announced his plans for the construction of this facility in 1927, drawn in by Midland's growing economy and the rapid development of the area's petroleum industry. He saw the need for a multi-purpose theatre to serve the growing population of the Permian Basin. So he did what any serious man does when he wants something built right.

He went and got the best people he could find. For the outside, Hogan commissioned Wyatt C. Hedrick, a noted Fort Worth architect, to design the structure.

Hedrick delivered. The result was an elaborate facade with intricate Gothic Revival detailing. Now hold that image in your mind, Gothic Revival rising up out of the West Texas flatlands, all pointed arches and ornamentation, standing at attention on a Midland street.

And then you walk inside, and everything changes. Because the interior was designed by a man named H.B. Layman, all the way from New York, and Layman had something entirely different in mind.

He went Egyptian Revival. Pharaohs and columns and mystery, right there in Midland, Texas. Two years of construction.

Two very different worlds, one building. The Yucca Theatre opened on December 5, 1929. The premiere included a screening of the Hollywood musical Rio Rita and a musical comedy revue by the Jubilee Players of New York City.

Not bad for a Thursday in West Texas. Now here is where the story gets its weight. The 1930s came, and with them, the economic depression.

A lot of things didn't survive that decade. But the Yucca Theatre did. The versatility of the building's design made it suitable for a variety of activities, and the people of the Permian Basin kept coming.

Traveling vaudeville shows. Operas. Recitals.

High school graduation ceremonies. The hard times came, and this building held the community inside it anyway. Today the Yucca Theatre serves as a reminder of Midland's early growth as a center of the petroleum industry.

A Gothic facade, an Egyptian interior, a former Montana senator's vision, and decades of West Texas life lived inside its walls. Some buildings are just buildings. This one kept the lights on when everything else went dark.

What the marker says

Attracted by Midland's growing economy and the rapid development of the area's petroleum industry, T.S. Hogan announced plans for the construction of this facility in 1927. An oilman and former Montana senator, Hogan saw the need for a multi-purpose theatre to serve the growing population of the Permian Basin. He commissioned noted Fort Worth architect Wyatt C. Hedrick to design the structure. The result was an elaborate facade with intricate Gothic Revival detailing. The interior was designed by H. B. Layman of New York and features characteristics of the Egyptian Revival style. The Yucca Theatre opened on December 5, 1929, after two years of construction. The premier included a screening of the Hollywood musical "Rio Rita" and a musical comedy revue by the Jubilee Players of New York City. The versatility of the building's design made the Yucca Theatre suitable for a variety of activities. Despite the 1930s economic depression, it remained a popular place for traveling vaudeville shows, operas, recitals, and high school graduation ceremonies. Today it serves as a reminder of Midland's early growth as a center of the petroleum industry. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981