ABOUT THE CORRAL THEATRE

The Houston Chronicle features the Corral Theatre
Click the photo to see the article by Louis Parks
 

Photo credits -  Karl Stolleis / Houston Chronicle

In the late 1940s, the two Avey brothers, Wimberley twins, built The Corral Theatre in downtown Wimberley. A stockade built of cedar saplings, it was located where The Lumberyard now stands, and served not only as a theatre, but as a meeting place for the community. Click here to see it as it appeared circa 1949.

When the Clietts bought the property in 1966 to build a lumberyard, Mrs. Carol Knolk, the first owner of Rocky River Ranch, moved The Corral Theatre lock, stock and barrel to its present location at the corner of Flite Acres and Old Kyle Road. The cedar saplings were replaced with sawn cedar fencing, but the same 1926 carbon arc projectors continued to roll film in the original projection booth to the same enthusiastic crowds.

A few changes have been made since then. Mary Anderson has owned the ranch and theatre since the early seventies. She's replaced the screen with a wider one, added new lenses with an expanded projection area and replaced the projector. But the same gentle breeze off the river and the legendary starry Wimberley sky makes time travelers of the lucky folks who go to the Corral as a regular weekend treat.