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Liberty Hall
El Paso, Texas

Description: Liberty Hall
Other Names: none
Address: Overland between Kansas and Campbell Streets, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: theatre
Original Client: El Paso County Commissioners Court
Historic Inventory: none
Date: commissioned 1915; opened April 17, 1918
Condition: demolished in 1987

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: faced south; seated 2,900
Budget/Cost: about $240,000 (about $1,000,000 with the Court House)

Foundation:
Wall Materials:
Roofing Materials:
Other Materials Used:
Remodeling and Additions:

Location of Drawings: none known to exist
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Ponsford 123, view of balcony section and ceiling; Aultman A9061, aerial view of El Paso showing Liberty Hall to the left of the County Court House; one of the “Golden Jubilee” photographs, made May 16, 1923, includes an aerial view showing Liberty Hall to the right of the County Court House (given to the El Paso Public Library along with a letter describing the gift, Walter Bender to Maud Sullivan, May 29, 1923).

Bibliography: (1) Stephen W. Kent, “Theaters & Opera Houses,” in Harriot Howze Jones, editor, El Paso. A Centennial Portrait (El Paso: El Paso County Historical Society, 1972), pages 255-256 (a history of the hall)
(2) El Paso Herald, August 26, 1916, Progress and Building Section, page 5 (mentioned in a picture caption of a photograph of the County Court House under construction, referred to as a “large auditorium”)
(3) J. Morgan Broaddus, The Legal Heritage of El Paso (El Paso: Texas Western College Press, 1963), pages 156-159 (details of financing, construction and naming of Liberty Hall; description of opening)
(4) Pat Henry, “Legendary Hall Is Aging Matron with Shining Past (New Vistas),” El Paso Times, November 12, 1986, page 1 (description and history of Liberty Hall)
(5) Cleofas Calleros, El Paso…Then and Now, (El Paso: American Printing Company, 1954), Volume VII, pages [72-73] (view of exterior from the east as part of a 1952 aerial photograph of El Paso)

Remarks: Although Liberty Hall is part of the County Court House commission, it is catalogued as a separate entry because it had a separate history. See also TXELPAG.001.A seating plan was published as a broadside by the El Paso Symphony Association; an example is attached.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990