Our History

Since 1939

A wonderfully preserved Art Deco stage in the heart of downtown Greenville, Texas — still lit, still loud, still ours.

The Story

A stage built for the town,
still standing for it.

The Greenville Municipal Auditorium — affectionately known as the GMA — is a wonderfully preserved 1930s Art Deco performance venue in Downtown Greenville, Texas. Built by the city in the closing years of the Great Depression, it opened its doors to a community hungry for music, film, and gathering.

For more than eight decades the GMA has hosted touring acts, hometown ballets, high-school choirs, road-show films, benefit galas, comedy nights and the occasional legend passing through town. The building itself — sunburst rails, stepped ornament, gold-leaf detail — is a Deco original, restored rather than replaced.

Today it is quietly one of the finest small-city theaters in Texas: a working stage, not a museum. The marquee still hums, the seats still fill, and the music still matters — the story isn't finished, it's playing tonight.

1939 — Today

Eighty-plus years on one stage.

1939
Opening Night

Doors open on Washington Street.

The City of Greenville completes the Municipal Auditorium as a WPA-era civic project, dressing it in full Art Deco — sunburst rails, stepped ornament, gilded plaster, a proscenium built for touring shows. It opens the same year Gone With The Wind premieres.

1955 [ placeholder ]
The Elvis Era

A young Elvis Presley plays the GMA.

In the mid-1950s, a rising Elvis Presley performs on the Municipal Auditorium stage during a Texas touring swing — one of dozens of touring country, rock, and gospel acts routed through the GMA in that decade. The room is still, essentially, the room he played.

1960s–80s
A Community Stage

Ballets, benefits, road-show films.

Through the middle of the century the GMA does what small-city auditoriums do best — hosts the high-school musical, the touring ballet, the church choir concert, the political rally, the graduation, the traveling picture show. Generations of Greenville pass through the lobby.

1990s–2000s [ placeholder ]
Restoration

Preserved, not replaced.

The city and community rally around the aging building. The Deco detail is cleaned and restored rather than modernized away. The GMA re-emerges as one of the best-preserved 1930s theaters in North Texas — a working venue with its original character intact.

2016
The Seat Campaign

New seats for the house.

The Hunt County Leadership class works with Venue Manager Kevin Banks to raise over $500,000 to replace the old wooden seats with the new cushioned seats in the venue today — a community effort that let a new generation settle into the GMA in comfort.

2025
Past Perfect, Future Ready

A major tech upgrade.

The GMA closes February 24 through September 2025 for a top-to-bottom infrastructure refresh — new lighting, rigging, sound, and house systems. The 1939 room stays exactly what it is; the tools inside it get a generation newer.

Today
Still On

Live music, film, comedy, community.

The GMA hosts concerts, comedy, classical, ballet, film, family shows, benefits, and community events year-round. Same stage as 1939. New seats since 2016. Different show every night.

“The GMA has been Greenville's stage since 1939. Every generation of this town has stood in that lobby, sat in those seats, watched something happen up there under the lights.” 
◆ A Working Stage, Not a Museum ◆
Part of the Community

Owned by the city.
Loved by the town.

The GMA is owned and operated by the City of Greenville. It is not a chain, not a promoter's brand, not a corporate room — it's a civic building, run by neighbors, for neighbors and the audiences they welcome from across North Texas.

The GMA Foundation supports the auditorium's mission through community giving, restoration, and programming that keeps this stage accessible to schools, arts groups, and families in Hunt County.

Now Playing

See what's on
our stage.

The history is the setting. The show is tonight. Browse the current calendar and pick your seat — the same room since 1939 is still lit and still loud.

Events Calendar Plan Your Visit