Rainbow Theatre in Houston’s Freedmen’s Town
![](https://www.curioushistonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rainbow_exterior-1024x822.png)
The Rainbow Theatre was a popular theater located in Houston’s Freedmen’s Town (Fourth Ward). At the time, like the rest of the South, Houston was heavily segregated and this was one of the few Houston-area theaters that Black Houstonians could patronize.
Like most of Freedmen’s Town, the Rainbow Theatre is no longer standing. Today, a Best Western Hotel occupies the former location @ 907 W Dallas.
Scroll down for a contemporary street view of the location and a few extra photos of the Rainbow Theater in its heyday.
![](https://www.curioushistonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/RainbowTheater_lobby-1024x803.png)
Unknown photographer
![](https://www.curioushistonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rainbow_Crowd-1024x831.png)
Unknown Photographer
![](https://www.curioushistonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rainbow_Interior1-1024x818.png)
Stage facing audience
April 1956 / Dixon Commercial Photography
![](https://www.curioushistonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rainbow_Interior2-1024x818.png)
Rear audience facing stage/screen
April 1956 / Dixon Commercial Photography