![]() ![]() ![]() The day I visited, a matinee concert with Broadway and country singer Gary Morris was in progress, so I did not get to tour the interior. #GRANBURY OPERA HOUSE FULL#Today, the 309-seat opera house is home to the Granbury Theatre Company, an organization that boasts a full calendar of Broadway shows, concerts, and other forms of entertainment. The Granbury Opera House (1886)īelieve it or not, opera houses were common additions to West Texas towns in the late 19th century. The Granbury Opera House, located directly on the town square across from the courthouse, was completed in 1886, and has been meticulously restored with “imported chandeliers, elegant twin curved staircases, the original limestone walls, filigree iron balcony railings, pressed-tin-inspired acoustic ceiling tiles. When we first arrived in Granbury, the skies were overcast, but later in the afternoon the sun broke through the clouds, completely transforming the appearance of the courthouse building. The most recent preservation effort included renovating newly-discovered stenciling and reconstructing wooden shutters in the second-floor courtroom. Even so, the original 1881 Seth Thomas hand-wound clock and McShane bell in the clock tower are configured and function exactly as they did when they were installed. The courthouse has experienced several renovations and restorations over the years, the most recent in 2012. While writing, I could not help but make comparisons to the 1881 Spring Hill Ranch House I had toured at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas, also a limestone Second Empire-style construction. This limestone edifice is designed in the French Second Empire style by Waco architect W. The Hood County Courthouse, completed in 1891, replaced earlier log and limestone structures that were situated on the town square. #GRANBURY OPERA HOUSE DOWNLOAD#When planning a visit, be sure to download the Historic Granbury Town Square Map. The courthouse square reminds me of similar small-town squares I have visited throughout the South, such as those in Dahlonega, Georgia, and Monroeville, Alabama. Map Credit: Historic Granbury Merchant’s Association The Hood County Courthouse Historic District, as well as many individual structures within the district, has been designated for preservation as a site on the National Register of Historic Places. Granbury is the county seat of Hood County, named after John Bell Hood, another Confederate General who led the Texas Brigade. Two historical figures, David Crockett‘s widow Elizabeth and son Robert, did settle in Hood County in the 1850s, and plenty of documentation exists to support this claim. ![]() Local lore is good fun, but it always makes me wonder, who makes up this stuff? Three well-known local legends (two even make the city website) allege that the outlaws Jesse James, John Wilkes Booth, and Billy the Kid did not die according to historical accounts, but rather moved and lived for many years in the Granbury Texas area. Granbury’s history is full of folklore and legends. Twenty-nine years after his death at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, General Granberry’s body was disinterred, moved, and reburied in the Texas town that bears his name. It seems the town of Granbury was part of the prevalent postbellum wave across the South to honor officers who died fighting for the Lost Cause. ![]() Granberry was a native of Lorman, Mississippi, and studied law at Baylor University in Waco, but no evidence exists of any connection to the town that bears his name. Situated about 80 miles southwest of Dallas, the town of Granbury Texas, was founded in 1887 and named after Confederate Brigadier General Hiram B. ![]()
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