DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Anson Opera House, over in Jones County. Now settle in, because this old building has seen some things. Built in 1907 by A.W.
Johnson and Dr. D. Williams, with a fellow named Thomas Vetch handling the contracting work, the Anson Opera House didn't come to play — if you'll pardon the expression.
And I mean that literally. From the moment those doors swung open, this place was a stage for just about everything the human imagination could cook up. Stock company productions rolled through.
Chautauqua programs set up and held court. They screened silent moving pictures in there — the Perils of Pauline flickering on the wall while audiences held their breath. And I'll tell you what else they did: they hosted a state championship wrestling match, right there in Anson, in the era of a local pugilist by the name of Boomer Moore.
That name alone ought to tell you something about the caliber of the entertainment. But here's the detail that separates this opera house from every other one in Texas. When they staged a production of The Klansman — and the marker names it right alongside East Lynn without a wink or a whisper of distinction, so neither will I — they needed a horse on stage.
A real horse. And they didn't just round one up from anywhere. They borrowed Sheriff Tom Hudson's horse and led that animal right up onto the boards.
Now I don't know what the horse thought of the whole arrangement, but the audience apparently got their money's worth. In between all the drama and the wrestling and the silent pictures, the Anson Opera House made room for something quieter and a good deal more lasting: Anson High School held its very first graduation ceremony inside those walls in 1909. So whatever else was happening on that stage — the productions, the champions, the borrowed sheriff's horse — this building also witnessed the moment a generation of young people in Jones County stepped across a threshold and into the rest of their lives.
Not bad for one building. Not bad at all.
What the marker says
Built 1907 by A.W . Johnson and Dr. D. Williams, with Thomas Vetch, contractor. House was site for diverse programs: stock company and Chautaugua productions such as "East Lynn" and "The Klansman" (for which Sheriff Tom Hudson's horse was borrowed and led on stage); "Perils of Pauline" and other silent moving pictures; a state championship wrestling match in era of local pugilist Boomer Moore; and Anson High School's first (1909) graduation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1963