Hippodrome Theatre
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For over a century, the Hippodrome Theatre has stood as a downtown home for ever-changing forms of entertainment.
The venue emerged in the early twentieth century through advocates for a downtown theater banding together. A group of local businessmen, organized by Thomas Finnegan, hired architects to design a structure dedicated to live performances and cinema. In 1913, ground broke on what became an iconic piece of the city’s architecture, designed by Waco’s own Roy E. Lane and Dallas architects Otto Land and Frank Witchell. On February 7, 1914, Wacoans gathered at 724 Austin Avenue and paid ten cents a ticket to view the grand opening of the Hippodrome Theatre, featuring a live seal act, magic show, and five-piece orchestra.
For many years, the Hippodrome served as a hub of downtown entertainment. Locals came to know the theater managed by J. P. Harrison and well-known theater entrepreneur Earl Henry Hulsey as “Hulsey’s Hipp.” Vaudeville troupes and silent films filled the theater’s early bills. As the popularity of moving pictures steadily grew, the Hippodrome—an affiliate of Paramount Pictures—steadily began to replace live acts with silent films.
A production booth fire in 1928 destroyed much of the forward portion of the building and brought about serious changes. Louis Dent of Southern Enterprises reopened the theater in 1929 with a new name and a new face. A redesigned Spanish Colonial Revival-style façade and cool air-conditioned air greeted moviegoers at the Waco Theatre. A few years later, new equipment allowed the theater to catch up with local rivals, such as the Orpheum Theatre on Sixth Street, which were already playing talkies. In 1931, the Waco Theatre played its first movie with sound.
The Waco Theatre continued the Hippodrome’s tradition, serving as a prominent figure in the Texas entertainment industry. Visitors from small Texas towns filled downtown Waco on the weekends and caught a show at the Hippodrome in the evening. Big-name performers drew large crowds to the movie theater. Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Fanny Brice each stopped at the theater in the 1930s, and Elvis Presley once caught a show at the Waco Theatre during his time stationed at Fort Hood.
In 1936, new construction added a second story to the grand theater, and two more renovations followed in the 1950s and early 1970s. However, more challenges loomed ahead. By the mid-twentieth century, attention had shifted to suburban areas, and many businesses headed out of the city. Although the theater survived the 1953 tornado unscathed, much of downtown did not. The Twenty Fifth Street Theater began to draw away the downtown audience, and the construction of Twin Cinema in the 1960s brought more customers to the suburbs. The last movie played at the Waco Theatre on December 15, 1974. The building sat vacant for over six years.
The Junior League, the Cooper Foundation, and local volunteers banded together in the 1980s to undertake a restoration project, leading to the reopening of the Waco Hippodrome Theatre on February 28, 1987. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the Waco Performing Arts Company, the historic theater began to draw visitors back to Austin Avenue once again with live performances. However, the success was short-lived. The steady popularity of suburban theaters kept attendance low, and maintenance for the historic structure proved too costly for fundraisers to maintain. The theater closed again in 2010.
Local developers Shane and Cody Turner purchased the property in 2012 with a vision for adapting the structure. While retaining the building’s historic look, the brothers added a wall to the second story to allow two films to be shown at once and renovated the second floor lobby into a bar. A modern addition on the Eighth Street side of the theater features a restaurant and concession stand. The Hippodrome reopened in November of 2014.
In 2020, parts of the theatre were once again closed for renovations. Now used primarily as a concert hall and adaptive event space, the Hippodrome continues to bring people together and is a centerpiece of Waco’s entertainment scene.
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The Hippodrome Theatre (c. 1920)
This photograph, taken before the production booth fire, displays the Hippodrome Theatre’s original façade with classical detailing. The theater sign advertises ten-cent tickets, and posters in the window advertise The Sea Wolf, a 1920 silent film based upon a novel by Jack London. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Elegant Interior
The original detailing of the interior of the Hippodrome looked much different than it does today. Note the pipes of the organ, visible on either side of the stage. Built by Henry Pilcher & Sons Pipe Organs, the instrument was removed from the theater in the 1960s and installed in a local Methodist church. Local Nan Frazier accompanied the theater’s early silent films, provided with a cue sheet to indicate when to play certain types of music. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Elaborate Displays
Early films often came with elaborate promotional materials. This display for D. W. Griffith’s 1923 film White Rose encouraged Wacoans to stop inside and purchase a ticket to see “the story of a girl who could not stop loving.” | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Romance, Mystery, and Love
Douglas Fairbanks directed and starred in Don Q, Son of Zorro, the 1925 sequel to The Mark of Zorro. This photograph of the film’s promotional materials—including a vehicle covered in the film’s name—also provides a glimpse of the Hippodrome’s façade prior to the 1928 renovation. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Live Entertainment
Home to many forms of entertainment, the Hippodrome—and later the Waco Theatre—often hosted live performances of theater troupes and musical groups. Here, a band poses on stage following a performance. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
A Fresh Start
Promotional materials adorned the interior of the theater as well, as evidenced by this enormous advertisement for Harold Lloyd’s 1930 film Feet First. Lloyd was one of the few silent film actors who transitioned well to movies with sound, and this was likely one of the first talkies played at the Waco Theatre. Note the changes to the theater following the 1928 fire, including differences in ceiling decoration, as well as the lack of organ pipes next to the stage. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Romanticizing the Frontier
Pearl Zane Grey was known for his books which idealized and romanticized the American frontier, many of which were adapted to film. Such films proved popular in Waco, especially when featuring big-name stars such as John Wayne. Wayne drew the largest crowd ever counted at the Waco Theatre—100,000 people—when he passed through town on a promotional tour. | Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University
Austin Avenue (c. 1940)
Austin Avenue served as Waco’s main thoroughfare for many years, and the Hippodrome stood as a central piece on the street. However, mid-twentieth-century changes, including the 1953 tornado and urban renewal projects, moved interest to the suburbs.
Balancing Act
The most recent renovation of the Hippodrome brought about big changes. The theater’s current owners strove to balance modern adaptations—such as the switch to digital projectors, allowing for the showing of first-release films—with the preservation of the building’s historic integrity. | Source: Image courtesy of Focus Magazine, Baylor University
Recent Revival
Today, the Hippodrome Theatre once again stands as a point of interest on Austin Avenue, drawing visitors downtown. | Source: Image courtesy of the Waco Tribune-Herald
Picture Shows
Joe L. Ward Jr. explains the picture shows at the Hippodrome in the 1920s and 30s. | Source: Ward, Joe L., interviewed by Colbert C. Held, June 23, 2006, in Waco, Texas. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, TX. View the full interviewSaturday Mornings at the Hippodrome
Cleta Bennett explains the Saturday morning activities at the Hippodrome. | Source: Bennett, Cleta, interviewed by Nancy Chinn, August 9, 1991, in Waco, Texas. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, TX. View the full interviewKiddie Matinees at the Hippodrome
Cleta Bennett tells about the kiddie matinee performances at the Hippodrome. | Source: Bennett, Cleta, interviewed by Nancy Chinn, August 9, 1991, in Waco, Texas. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, TX. View the full interviewRestoration of the Hippodrome
Martha Roan Lacy Howe tells about restoring the Hippodrome in the late 1970s. | Source: Howe, Martha Roane Lacy, interviewed by Lois E. Myers, June 16, 2009, in Waco, Texas. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, TX. View the full interview