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January 7, 1955 - Midland High School Auditorium, Midland TX

The January 6th Midland Reporter-Telegram announced that Elvis Presley, "the king of Western bop", would be in town on the 7th at the Midland High School Auditorium. To my knowledge, this is the first time the word 'king' was used to describe Elvis, although he wouldn't be crowned The King of Rock and Roll until 1956. January 7th was also Elvis' last day as teenager; he would turn 20 on the 8th.

Midland High School was built in 1949 at 906 West Illinois Avenue and still stands today. There are modern wings that have been added as the population increased, but the original building hasn't changed much. This 1962 yearbook photo shows the entrance as it would have looked when Elvis played there in 1955, and the google maps photo appears largely the same, though there are more trees now. The yearbook name, CATOICO, is taken from Midland's CATOICO prom, a tradition dating back to 1929. It is pronounced 'cuh-TOY-cuh' and is a combination of the words Cattle, Oil, and Cotton.

A crowd of approximately 1,600 filled the auditorium, which also appears largely unchanged, at least externally. There was originally a balcony which is what allowed for such a high number of seats, but I have not yet obtained photos of the interior, so if you can shed any light on how it compares to when Midland hosted Elvis, please get in touch. 

Sources:
Elvis Day by Day by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen
https://mhs.midlandisd.net/campus-info

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