This site is dedicated to my mom, Mary Jo Phillips, (1924-2003) who worked at Panther Hall from the day the doors opened (June 1963) until it closed in 1978.  She was also the designer and creator of the puppets for the show "Mickey and Amanda" shown on the local TV station KTVT channel 11. The same channel that hosted the broadcast of Cowtown Jamboree live from Panther Hall every Saturday night.  (Actually, if I remember correctly, the show was taped at 6:00 PM and was shown on TV at 8:00 PM.) Mary Jo knew most of the stars personally and often would go out to eat with them after the show. Some even came to our house! Thanks Mary Jo for being my mom.

My name is Rick Phillips and I am now 55 years old. Bear with me as I try to recount the stories of this wonderful time in American history of  the original "World's Largest Honky Tonk", Panther Hall. If I get some dates wrong or even a whole story, feel free to correct me since my memory of this time was about 45 years ago when I was a small child. I have contacted many of the stars who played this venue and I hope to be able to put their stories up on this site soon. So let's get on with it! Remember that anything underlined on this site is a link to something.

Feel free to share your memories of Panther Hall or Poly in our New Guest Book.
Our Old Guest Book service has shut down for good. You can still read the messages by clicking the link.

The image of a Panther has long been a part of Fort Worth history, beginning in the late 1800s, when a
Dallas attorney reportedly claimed after visiting Cowtown that "things were so quiet, he had seen a panther asleep on Main Street." And so, the nickname of Panther City was born. "Such stories, whether true or false, later provoked city police officers to wear a patch of the dozing cat on their uniforms. And it was the reason a concert and dance hall off East Lancaster, now demolished, was renowned as much for its name -- Panther Hall -- as it was for the stars who performed there." My best guess is that Panther Hall opened in the Polytechnic area of Ft. Worth around 1962-1963. Bill and Corky Kuykendall were brothers who loved Country music and decided to open Panther Hall, the biggest venue in the south at the time. Panther Hall held 2000 people and was converted from a professional bowling alley, The Panther Bowl. (They actually used the wood from the bowling lanes to build the huge dance floor!) Stars came from all over the United States to play there. Excerpt: "Talking to Elvis at Panther Hall, in Ft. Worth, Roy Orbison invited Elvis to be a guest on his radio show." Later on, Panther Hall catered to the younger crowd creating PANTHER A-GO-GO. And even later had many Rock concerts there.  Panther Hall was put up for sale in 1972 and closed in 1978. Also, across the street from Panther Hall was a small club known as The Annex. This was owned by Pat Grogan, leased to him by the Kuykendalls until 1971-1972. Often times, after the show at the Hall, stars would go across the street and play until the wee hours of the morning. Later, many of them would go to the Lone Star Café on E. Lancaster to get a bite to eat. My Mom was always invited to go along and many times she did. Hundreds of  Artists played Panther Hall and I'll never be able to list them all, but I'll try to list as many Artists and Links as I can find. If you know of any that I miss, please let me know. Any information or pictures would be greatly appreciated. If you have any Stories to share, feel free to send them to me and I will put them on the site. 

Excerpt from Texas Monthly Magazine--1973
"Everyone in Fort Worth ought to go to Panther Hall at least once. Why not this summer? This country music palace is known nationwide as the site of television's Cowtown Jamboree. In fact, your Saturday night ticket will admit you to the telecast at 6:00 as well as to the regular show 9:00-11:00, and you can go out for dinner in between. You'll probably wind up meeting some of the West Texans who have driven in for the show, and as the night progresses, so will your good old country feeling."