Joy Theatre

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Uploaded on: June 20, 2015

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In the bottom left corner is the former Grand Theatre turned Joy Theater shown after the May 11, 1953 decimated downtown Waco. The twister hit just after a double-feature had ended. The rain and wind kept patrons inside and reports said that they went under the seats in the auditorium when the twister came through. And everything might have been fine for the Joy though the roof buckled. But when the neighboring R.T. Dennis Building mostly at right toppled onto the Joy Theatre, it felled its roof and two of the walls partially crumpled. But amazingly none of the patrons was injured in the Joy as there was enough time between the roof buckling and the building toppling to get people out of the theatre building.

However, the attraction sign would also come away from the facing in the Dennis' Building impact’s aftermath. The Joy building was a twisted mess and wouldn’t re-open. E.C. Houck Of the Joy Theatre Circuit had been told to expect the worst but received good news that all patrons escaped safely. However, the Dennis Building had decimated the neighboring theater and it wasn’t salvageable. Bulldozers came on May 14, 1953 to finish off the Joy Theatre and by September a parking lot replaced the Joy, the Chris' Cafe and the Dennis and Co. Furniture Store. That makes the last day of operation May 11, 1953 with the double-feature of “The Lusty Men” and “Follow the Leader.”