DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the one bringin' it to life — so here's what the record says about the Wichita Falls Opera House. Now, picture a city with ambition. It's 1908, and the Wichita Falls Opera Company has just been formed with one clear mission: give this town a proper theater.
Seven directors signed on to make it happen — C. W. Bean, N.
Henderson, J. L. Jackson, Frank Kell, J.
A. Kemp, W. M.
McGregor, and T. R. T.
Orth. Seven names. Seven men who apparently looked at Wichita Falls and decided it deserved something grand.
The money came from the public — subscription funded, meaning the community put its own skin in the game. The land itself was deeded by J. A.
Kemp and Anderson Bean. And the building? Completed that very same year, 1908, by the Fort Worth firm of Brown and Cramer.
When they say they moved fast, they mean it. The curtain rose for the first time on a play called His Honor, The Mayor — and it opened to a full house. Right out of the gate.
Not a single empty seat in the room. What followed was a run that would make any cultural institution proud. The building hosted drama, music festivals, concerts, ballet, traveling acts, opera, and the graduation ceremonies of the Wichita Falls High School.
And the names that walked through those doors — well. William Jennings Bryan took that stage. Anna Pavlova.
Lillian Russell. Ernestine Schumann-Heink. And Evelyn Nesbitt.
That is not a modest guest list for any town, anywhere. But time has a way of rearranging things. The interior was eventually remodeled to accommodate motion pictures, and those early silent films got their music from a mechanical piano — which, honestly, sounds like a story all by itself.
Then 1926 arrived, the Municipal Auditorium opened its doors, and the opera house began its slow fade from the spotlight. What had once drawn the finest voices and the biggest names in the country later became a wrestling arena. And then Interstate Theaters, Inc. purchased it.
From His Honor, The Mayor to headlocks and folding chairs. That, right there, is the full arc of a building that once held a full house and meant every word of it.
What the marker says
The Wichita Falls Opera Company was formed in 1908 to establish a theater in the city. The first seven directors were C. W. Bean, N. Henderson, J. L. Jackson, Frank Kell, J. A. Kemp, W. M. McGregor, and T. R. T. Orth. The project was funded by public subscription and the land for the opera house was deeded by J. A. Kemp and Anderson Bean. The building was completed the same year by the Fort Worth firm of Brown and Cramer. The first production in the new theater was the play "His Honor, The Mayor", which opened to a full house. In addition to drama, the building was also used for music festivals, concerts, ballet, traveling acts, opera, and for graduation ceremonies of the Wichita Falls High School. Celebrities appearing here during the early years included William Jennings Bryan, Anna Pavlova, Lillian Russell, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, and Evelyn Nesbitt. Later the interior was remodeled to accommodate motion pictures. Music for the early silent movies was provided by a mechanical piano. The opera house declined in popularity after the opening of the Municipal Auditorium in 1926. Later used as a wrestling arena, it was purchased by the Interstate Theaters, Inc. (1981)