DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out on the road between nowhere and Mankins, Texas, there's a story that starts with a wild west circus — founded in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and nobody's pinned down the exact year, which honestly feels right for a show like this. It's called the D.
S. Dudley Show, and for over half a century it's been the chief industry of Mankins. The chief industry.
In a town. A traveling circus. Let that settle in for a moment.
Now, the man at the center of all this is Dick Dudley — went by 'Cheyenne,' which tells you something about the cut of him right there. Born in 1896, Dick was a prize-winning bronc rider. Not just a rider.
A prize-winning one. The kind of man who looked at an animal doing everything in its power to end his afternoon and said, yes, this is my calling. In 1914, Dick bought the show.
Then the world intervened, the way it does, and he interrupted his career to serve overseas in the United States Army in World War I. He came back. And when he did, he married Ruth Wolf of Mankins.
Now together, Dick and Ruth took that show on the road — eight months out of the year, touring the Southwest, employing as many as two hundred and fifty people. Two hundred and fifty souls traveling the back roads, putting on a wild west circus. And then every winter, they'd bring the whole thing home to Mankins — exotic animals and all — and settle in until the road called again.
The younger generations of their family have kept right on with the show. Some legacies you pass down. Some legacies, well — they follow you home and spend the winter in the yard.
What the marker says
Founded in late 19th or early 20th century as a wild west circus, the D. S. Dudley Show has been chief industry in Mankins for over half a century. Dick "Cheyenne" Dudley (born in 1896), a prize-winning bronc rider, bought the show in 1914, interrupted his career to serve overseas in the U.S. Army in World War I, came back and married Ruth Wolf of Mankins. Together they toured the Southwest with the show 8 months of the year, employing as many as 250 people, wintering here with their exotic animals. Younger generations of their family continue with the show. (1974)