Bidding For Historic Hall Starts At $1

The historic Schroeder Hall in Goliad, Texas, will soon step onto the digital shopping block, as the current owner has declared his intention to sell the venue on eBay.

Angela Piazza/The Victoria Advocate via AP – Schroeder Hall
Schroeder Hall awaits sale to the highest digital bidder in Goliad, Texas.

ATX Brands bought the 720-capacity Hall in 2014, but has said it wants to start concentrating exclusively on its properties in Austin, where the company is based. This means that Schroeder needs to be shipped.

 “I’ve enjoyed the history that the hall has; the community that both works there and attends the concerts,” ATX Brands CEO Doug Guller told the Victoria Advocate. “I love the hall. Unfortunately, our company doesn’t have the ability to make it successful for years to come”

The bidding will start at $1, although obviously ATX is hoping the bids will rise considerably.

 “I want someone to purchase the hall who will consistently be booking the right bands and the right events in the hall,” Guller said. “I’d like to be picky about who takes it over in order for it to be in the community for 100 more years but, ultimately, it will be left in the hands of the highest bidder.”

Previous owner Sharon Kleinecke said she would be willing to help the next buyer increase the amount of activity at the venue as she wants to see it succeed.

“I hope someone local buys it; it needs that to take it to the next level, getting back to where it was when I had it,” she said.

The dancehall sits on the site of a former German immigrant colony, which was first settled in the 1840s. That community built its first dancehall in 1890. The residents of what was then Germantown renamed it Schroeder in 1918, to honor the first townsman killed in the Great War, according to the venue’s website.