Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990 Page: 119
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The Glory Days of the Stafford Opera House
Ed Sandmeyer died. Bob Stafford had been killed in 1890.
Stafford's widow was bitter since, though her husband's
assassin was well known, no punishment had ever been
accorded him. The theater had never made money and had
been kept open by the backing of the Stafford family. When
that backing was withdrawn, the theater could not operate.
For a few years traveling lecturers and entertainments of
various sorts sporadically brought the stage back to life, but
the glory days of the Stafford Opera House had ended.
There were two more opera houses in Colorado
County, the Frazar Opera House in Eagle Lake and the Lone
Star Opera House, on the second floor of the Brunson
Building, in Columbus. The latter, which opened on Decem-
ber 31, 1896, attempted to take up where the Stafford
Opera House had left off, but it could not lure prime circuit
attractions and shortly failed, finally closing forever in
August, 1908. The Frazar Opera House evidently suffered
from the same malady, and by the time it burned on February
19, 1925, it had long since been obsolete, a relic of the
theater that was as dead then as vaudeville is now.
Appendix A
Prime Circuit Performers and Shows
During the Glory Days of the Stafford Opera House
(The names of two shows separated by a slash [/] means that two perform-
ances were given by the company on the same day. The first of the two
shows named in such cases was usually a matinee. An asterisk [*]
indicates a performer or show which played in a Galveston or Houston
opera house in the same season.)
1887-1888 Season
FRI OCT 28 Louise Balfe: The Planter's Wife *
SAT OCT 29 Louise Balfe: The Planter's Wife / Dagmar *
TUE NOV 1 Famous Georgia Minstrels *
TUE NOV 8 Lizzie Evans: Our Angel *
THU NOV 10 Lizzie Evans: Fogg's Ferry *
MON NOV 21 E. T. Stetson: Neck and Neck *119
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990, periodical, March 1990; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151377/m1/19/?q=%22~1~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.