Teal Theatre

402 E. Pine Street,
Deming, NM 88030

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 18, 2014 at 6:21 pm

The August 24, 1917, issue of the Las Cruces, New Mexico, newspaper The Rio Grand Republic had a report on various doings in bustling Deming, including this information about the Teal Theatre:

“Jolly Morris, of El Paso expects to have Raymond Teal’s theatre completed in three weeks at the corner of Pine and Diamond streets. The building will be 70 by 140 feet with a raised floor capable of seating 2000 persons. The main auditorium will be 60 by 90 feet, without a post. The stage will be 30 by 70 and 40 feet.”
The Teal Theatre lasted less than two years. The October 3, 1919, issue of The Deming Headlight reported that the fixtures of the Teal Theatre had been sold and would be used in a new theater in Tempe, Arizona, and another that was being enlarged in Chandler, Arizona.

The seating capacity of 2,000 was probably exaggerated, but probably not by much, as the theater could expect to draw patronage from Camp Cody, the nearby Army training base, which housed some 30,000 troops at its peak during WWI. The base began closing down in early 1919, leading to the dismantling of the Teal Theatre.