Lantex Theater

The theater has watched a changing town. By 1964 Llano had a new hospital, post office and school buildings, a community center, a rodeo area, a golf course and a better water system, and it had become a link in the Highland Lakes chain, drawing many hunters in deer season. A winery, feed processing and the production of insecticide and commercial talc added new industry. In 1975 the actress Sophia Loren, friend and correspondent of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church priest Anthony Goossens, gave to the parish's fund drive. The town had 3,325 people in 2000.

What the plaque says

Lantex Theater This theater opened on May 19, 1927, on the north side of Llano's courthouse square. S. D. Rainier and George Shaw hired J. R. Blackmore as their builder. On opening night, a packed house, at 30 cents for adults and 10 cents for children, enjoyed Universal Pictures' The Fourth Commandment. Along with the recreational entertainment of movies, the theater has hosted such activities as school concerts, the Llano Opry, WWII bond drives, public meetings and city celebrations. When a fire in 1951 destroyed all but the facade, owner Rex Wooten rebuilt the facility with modern amenities. Since its opening, this has been a thriving business and an important social gathering place. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Llano County Courthouse Square — steps away
  The 1893 Romanesque courthouse on Llano's square, built after a fire at the height of a boom that was meant to make the granite town an iron city.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 17 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.
• Inks Lake State Park — 18 mi
  A state park on a constant-level lake of the Colorado, between Buchanan and Inks dams, with pink granite and gneiss at the water and CCC work along Park Road 4.
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — 19 mi
  A dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg that rises some 385 feet above Sandy Creek, creaks as it cools at night, and has drawn people for thousands of years.

More markers nearby

• Frank Teich — steps away
• Llano Woman's Culture Club — steps away
• Llano County Granite Industry — steps away
• Richmond Alexander McInnis — 0.2 mi