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Gov. Matt Blunt with Houston's Elaine Campbell during a Kansas City conference that saw Downtown Houston, Inc., win the governor's award for economic development in September 2008.

Extensive renovations were completed at the Lone Star Annex in 2015. Here, the Great Hall, a rental meeting room that joins a commercial kitchen.

Workers perform demolition work in 2015 at the Lone Star Annex, which now houses University Extension, a community kitchen, space for ag and business classes and the Great Hall, a meeting space that is available for rental. A fast freezer also is on site. It is located on Main Street in downtown Houston.

Work was performed in 2005 on rock posts and a wrought iron fence that surrounds the Lone Star Plaza, a project of Downtown Houston Inc. This is a look at Pine Street.

Space destroyed by a 1999 fire was transformed into a green space, Lone Star Plaza, at Pine Street and Grand Avenue.

The late Phyllis Masters bought popcorn at the Melba around 1952. These political candidates were featured on popcorn cartons then.

Flyers like this one were used to advertise movies. Employees would head to the country and place them in gates and screen doors. This handbill dates to 1932 before the Melba opened, and movies were show farther north on Grand Avenue.

Pat Hutsell poses in front of the Piney Inn in the 1950s. The hotel, owned by her parents, Perry and Virginia Hutsell, was directly across from the Melba Theatre on Grand Avenue. (in background)

The year was 1938 when the Melba opened. The winner of the Oscar that year was "You Can't Take It With You."

Construction begins on the Melba Performing Arts Center on Grand Avenue. The building was constructed in 1938.

A Houston School District event kicked off the first use of the Melba Performing Arts Center in downtown Houston.

The City of Houston's electrical department sets a new pole on First Street in Houston. Four new poles match those installed up and down Grand Avenue earlier. Houston's main throughfare — Grand Avenue — also received a new asphalt overlay. Funding came from a Community Development Block Grant for downtown revitalization work.