The Opera House at The 1895
Prior to the 1939 WPA renovation, when a bi-secting brick wall was built to provide structural support, the second story of The 1895 City Hall was one open expanse extending the length of the building.
The 1912 Sanborn map references an Opera House on the second floor with stage & scenery.
As early as the turn of the century, the M.I.P. Latin & Literary Achievement Club is noted to have met in the Opera House. In 1908, a play by Hans Hanson with “25 actors and musicians with fine scenery” was advertised in the Reporter.
In the early 1900s, a number of theatrical productions were held in the Opera House, including a 1914 productions of “The Price she Paid” and “Bought and Paid For”, as well as “Her Sacrifice”, “The Merry Cobbler”, and “Peg o’ My Heart” in 1915.
The Opera House also hosted high school plays, like this 1927 production starring a future famous Rockdalian, author, George Perry. This photo from the 1927 Rockdale High School Yearbook, The Lair, shows scenery on the stage of the production of “An Arizona Cowboy” at Opera House.
The Opera House auditorium also served as home to many school basketball tournaments for schools throughout the region. In 1931, a new basketball court on the 2nd floor Opera House — referred to as the “Tiger Cage” — was dedicated at a game between the Rockdale Tigresses and their ancient rivals the Yoemen of Cameron. The article boasted a “seating capacity of 400 .. the old building will be decked out in its best bib and tucker for the festivities — its floor freshly waxed, its walls a spotless white, its seats and back-boards alternately blue and gold, its new lighting system bathing the whole court as the Cats pit their ferocity against the traditional accuracy of the archers”. The Opera House served in this capacity until 1936 when a state of the art auditorium was built at the high school.
With our mission to enrich the arts, it is the goal of Vision Historic Preservation Foundation to return The 1895 to its roots as a center of culture and entertainment for our community and visitors by re-developing it into a thriving Arts & Entertainment District.
Another popular event often held in the Opera House was professional wrestling matches. A 1916 article invites both ladies and gentlemen to attend a match, “as nothing will be said or done to offend anyone”. One wrestler of notoriety was the son of Rockdale townsman J.D. Fannin — Elbert “Pee Wee” Fannin — Rockdale’s ‘Classy’ Bantam Weight Wrestler who “became known for his prowess on the mat”. “Pee Wee” Fannin wrestled several times in The 1895 Opera House between 1914-1916 and around the country, “bringing fame to his home town as champion”. A 1919 article hails his return to “Regal Rockdale” after eleven months with the A.E.F. in France with the 132nd Field Artillery 36th Division (during WWI). The article states young Fannin “made quite a record over there in the wrestling game … which served to pass away the time most acceptably to the American soldiers”.
The 1895 Opera House was also the site of exciting new announcements and presentations. Articles discuss presentations at the Opera House by various statesmen and purveyors of new equipment and products to help advance agriculture and industry. A 1914 advertisement also promoted showings of new “talkie” motion pictures in the Opera House which was considered a marvel of the era.
As a center of the community, the Opera House at the 1895 City Hall was a multi-functional auditorium.
Within its walls many community dances and graduation ceremonies were celebrated. It was reported that the 1915 Commencement the Opera House was “crowded to its utmost capacity with friends and relatives”.
