1886 - Kerr's Opera House
Posted by: QuesterMark
N 32° 26.529 W 097° 47.207
14S E 614045 N 3590094
Kerr's Opera House occupied the top floor of this 1886 stone structure until 1911.
Waymark Code: WM64EM
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/31/2009
Views: 13
The opera house was the mark of civilization in Small Town, Texas, in the late Nineteenth Century. Everyone with the slightest veneer of culture attended the performances and discussed the merits of the performers for weeks afterward. When movies began to invade the small towns, the opera houses faded. One of the few surviving today is the beautiful old building on the southeast corner of the square in Granbury, Texas. Now referred to as the Granbury Opera House, this building was restored and reopened in 1975 by the Granbury Opera Association.
When the doors opened to the public in 1886, it was called Kerr's Hall after its owner, Henry Kerr. A former city official in 1885, Kerr was the son of South Carolinian David Kerr, who married a Kentucky woman in Mississippi and then moved to Texas in 1843. In the new opera house, gas lights flickered across the gorgeous red plush (probably red velvet) and gentlemen were asked to remove their spurs for fear of spoiling the decor. The opera house building was erected in 1886, but the theatre did not officially book acts until 1891. Kerr's Hall occupied the second story of the building, above a saloon and saddle shop. There a small stage occupied one end of the floor.
Lots more information can be found at this
website.
Visit Instructions:
When logging a visit to a waymark in this category, please provide one or more photos taken by yourself, and note down your impressions and any background information you may have.