My wife and I spent this past Thanksgiving with her family in their hometown of Texarkana.
During our stay, my mother-in-law took us to the downtown historic district to an old venue where she and her musical family performed in the 1960s — the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium. Emory Dale and Mary Sorsby and their three daughters often played on the auditorium’s stage at concerts and variety shows.
But my mother-in-law wasn’t the only entertainment legend who played there. After our conversation and some quick research, I learned all about the colorful building and the amazing talents that graced its stage through the decades.
Built in the late 1920s, the auditorium was part of the Texarkana, Arkansas Municipal Building, which also housed city hall, a fire station and a jail. The city, which straddles the Texas-Arkansas line and was home to a major railroad junction, began to experience a significant population boom, prompting the need for a multi-use municipal facility.
City officials hired the local architectural firm of Witt Seibert & Holley to design the building and the McGehee Construction Co. to build it. Construction began in 1927. The 950-seat auditorium opened in June 1928, and the other portions of the building completed in 1930. The municipal building was built in a prime location at 3rd and Walnut Streets near the heart of Texarkana, Arkansas.
With its large capacity and central location, the auditorium became the hot spot for all kinds of performances, ranging from concerts and fashion shows to dance recitals. It was the primary stop for performers appearing on the Louisiana Hayride, a radio (and later television) country music show broadcast from the Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The program helped launch the careers of several famous musicians, including Hank Williams, Sr. and Elvis Presley.
Presley performed at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium several times in the mid-1950s, as did other legends like Arkansans Johnny Cash and Harold Jenkins, who would become known by his stage name, Conway Twitty. Presley and Cash once performed together at the auditorium on Nov. 17, 1955.
Other musicians of note that graced the auditorium’s stage include Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, George Jones (he apparently showed up that time), Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, who reportedly debuted his signature song, “Blue Suede Shoes,” on the auditorium's stage. Even the sultry star of the stage and screen, Mae West, performed there.
But over time, entertainment at the auditorium became more locally focused, featuring high school plays, baby pageants and beauty pageants.
In 2002, the city’s board of directors created the Texarkana, Arkansas, Municipal Auditorium Commission, which aims to “enhance community pride through the renovation of the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium.”
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. On Nov. 17, 2015, city leaders and members of the auditorium commission unveiled a plaque honoring Johnny Cash at the building he helped make famous.
Throughout the years, with a combination of grants, city and state funds and private donations, the commission has made significant improvements to the building, including a new roof, asbestos removal, and a wall of fame park next to the building.
Perhaps one day, another young girl will make her own special memories on that historic stage, just as mother-in-law did not so long ago.
A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their beloved Boston Terrier, Dixie. Brown teaches broadcasting and history at a private school in Bryant. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.
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