Houses and Streets

UB114
Republican Casino (6, Muntanya Street)

During the second part of the 20’s and during the 30’s there was the Casino Republicà (Republican Casino), which also had an oil mill, a fruit magazine, a library, and a cinema, which also served as a theater, that was the first in town. It was also the Agricultural Cooperative. Before, it was a private house, owned by José Bória Melià, which was bought for 2,000 pesetas on August 27, 1924, by a group of republicans (Juan Andreu Condomina, Joaquín Borja Compañ, Emilio Compañ Cotolí, Melchor Navarro Andreu and Pío Salt Vicent) to transform it into the Republican Center Casino (Casino del Centre Republicà), the oldest in the region.

In fact, this street, were the Republican Casino had its address, was the area of the town most affected by the bombardment on July 13, 1938, at 1:00 p.m., which caused 12 deaths (the general opinion estimates the total name in 13, but the death certificates appear in 12).

As an anecdote we will tell an episode of panic. The year 1934, while Federico Aparici was working at the Republican Center cinema, full of people, a windstorm pulled to the ground the electrical line that passed through the center of the street, causing a dangerous situation. The public of the cinema, prey to panic, fled from the cinema, crossing the street. Fortunately, nothing happened.