Day Trips
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Sept. 20, 2002
The Chautauqua Auditorium in Waxahachie is the last survivor of a national trend in the late 19th/early 20th century that provided news, entertainment, and information to thousands of rural residents. In the days before radio, folks flocked to the auditorium on the west side of town for a day of speeches, lectures, and music.
The resurrected and restored auditorium celebrates its centennial on Sept. 28 with a return to the days when learning was a personal and treasured pastime. There will be lectures on art and architecture, storytelling, a play, a birds-of-prey demonstration, and a visit by Theodore Roosevelt played by James Foote of New York. The day will be topped off with an evening John Philip Sousa concert presented by the Dallas Wind Symphony.
Think of the Chautauqua hall as a vaudeville theatre in the country. From the late 1800s through the 1930s, rural families would load the wagon and head into town to camp under the trees along the creek and be entertained and enlightened.
The program ranged from hillbilly bands to experts on the latest agriculture techniques. Entertainers and orators traveled a circuit around Texas hitting towns where they could draw an audience of a couple of thousand or more. Georgetown had a Chautauqua hall near where Blue Hole Park is today. Paris and Wichita Falls were among the towns on the circuit.
In San Marcos the Chautauqua auditorium became the normal school, which later became Southwest Texas State University, says Maureen Moore of the Waxahachie Chautauqua Association. Moore and Kirk Hunter were instrumental in researching the history of the building.
Built in 1902, the octagonal structure was constructed of heart pine. The windows are raised into the ceiling to make the building an open-air structure. The stage is large enough to handle theatrical presentations with dressing rooms below. Wooden seats are estimated to accommodate up to 2,500 people, but Moore says it is more like 2,000. The original painted curtain was replaced in the 1970s.
When the Chautauqua wasn't in town, which was usually a week during the summer, the building was used for civic functions and by theatre groups. Will Rogers did a show to a sold-out crowd in 1927. For a time, the high school graduation was held there. By 1971, the old building was in disrepair and the city began plans to tear it down.
A group of citizens joined together to save the building and by 1975 it was rededicated. "Kirk and I used to walk past the building and wonder what the history of it was," Moore says. "We spent months in the library researching it and then bringing it back to people's attention." This will be the third year that an old-fashioned Chautauqua has been held in the restored auditorium.
The Chautauqua Movement started in 1874 as a summer training program for Sunday school teachers at Chautauqua Lake, New York. The Chautauqua Institute still exists as an educational organization. By the late 1800s more than 200 "independent chautauquas" were established around the country to ponder scientific, political, and cultural thoughts of the day. These local groups often competed for the most popular speakers like William Jennings Bryan.
In the early 20th century, entrepreneurs discovered the financial possibilities of the large crowds that the Chautauquas attracted. In Texas, the Redpath Chautauqua Circuit grew out of a lyceum bureau. The organization set up tents in towns with no auditorium for usually a seven-night stand. The performers would appear at their appointed time in one town and then go to the next town. After all of the talent had been on stage, the tents would be pulled up and moved to the end of the line. During the summer months the company would creep across the state like a giant caterpillar.
The Waxahachie Chautauqua Auditorium is in Getzendaner Park at the end of Grand Avenue. The Sept. 28 Chautauqua runs from 9am to 9pm. Tickets are $25 at the door. For information on the event call 972/938-9617 or visit www.waxahachiechautauqua.org. For information about staying in Waxahachie, call 972/937-2930 or visit the chamber of commerce's Web site at www.waxacofc.com.
589th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
