By Barbara Manson

Special to the Index

The last of the spring Boyce Ditto Library Roadtrips for 2009 is a journey to the Granbury Opera House to enjoy a musical celebration of what’s right with America today, “America the Beautiful.”

This coming Friday, a luxurious Trailways bus will drive those attending from the library and whisk them quietly to Granbury. This is an opportunity to enjoy a gourmet box lunch created by the Black Horse Café while traveling and conversing with friends. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. at the Opera House. The chandeliers and sconces are dimmed and the 1886 atmosphere pervades the building.

As you settle into your comfortable seat in the hall, an evening of music and dance will enthrall you, but your mind might wander as you think about the theater’s colorful history. The Granbury Opera House building was erected in 1886. The theater did not officially book acts there until 1891. Kerr’s Hall occupied the second story of the building above a saloon and saddle shop on the first floor. There was a small stage in Kerr’s Hall and few people remember the shows that were originally presented there.

It is hard to believe that after the Civil War, a carpetbagger made it a law that the county seat had to sell liquor. The liquid refreshments served at the salon below the theater helped keep the theater in operation until 1911 when Carrie Nation came to town and helped chop up the saloons. Temperance had come to Texas.

One of the intriguing stories emanating from the Granbury Opera House concerns a John St. Helen, who came as a bit actor to the old theater. He worked as a bartender at the saloon and was known to specialize in Shakespearean plays. St. Helen walked with a limp and showed-up in Granbury the year after President Lincoln’s assassination. Could it be true? The body of John Wilkes Booth was never officially identified, was hauled into a federal prison under cover of darkness and secretly buried. Perhaps one of the ghosts that haunt the theater is the spirit of John Wilkes Booth.

The building has been used by a wide variety of businesses from drug and grocery stores to abstract office. The building fell into deteriorated condition and ended up in the hands of Joe L. Nutt, a retired businessman whose ancestors were fundamental in establishing Granbury as the county seat. Jo Ann Miller and others organized the non-profit Granbury Opera Association. Local businessmen borrowed $16,000 and bought the building from Nutt at his cost. With Miller’s driving force, the theater was restored adding the downstairs with a 303 intimate seating area at a cost of a half-million dollars. The curtain rose again in 1975. Today the opera house complex consists of the theater itself, an improved company dormitory, and a structure for housing scenes and props, dressing rooms and rehearsal space. Another build has space for costume construction and storage of an extensive costume collection. All are now debt-free and the yearly income of the Opera House is over $700,000 dollars.

Will Rogers is your tour guide for “America The Beautiful.” Rogers’ wit and humor take you on this musical tour of what is right with America today. Don’t miss this unbeatably combination.

Enjoy this last Boyce Ditto Library Roadtrip of the spring. Tickets are just $35 each. Pick up your tickets at the library to reserve your space. Boyce Ditto Public Library is located at 2300 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. St. in Mineral Wells, or call (940) 328-7880.

We will see you in the fall for additional Boyce Ditto Public Library historical and cultural road trips.