Our History
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Farmers Mercantile
A little bit of our History
Pre-1968 Farmers Mercantile (photo Left)
This framed photo was brought to Lue Harris some time ago, here is what little we know.
This photo was found in an attic of someones great-grandmother's home. Sadly, we do not recall the man's name who brought this beautiful and well taken care of photo to us. We will give credit to 'Lisa Stanford', as her name is on the mat in the lower right corner.
After some upclose scrutiny by Lue, she recalls this to be pre-1968. The giveaway for her are the dollies, they were no longer used after that year. We still have the round topped dolly, it happens to be blue. We also know the Coke-a-Cola chest box was red. Knowing the color of the Coke box and one dolly brings imagination to life. The Lone Star feed bag sign is yellow.
We love this picture!
Farmers Mercantile
approx. 1987-1988
Drawing by
Libby Shipman
Orange had an Opera House and it sat on what was to be Farmers Mercantile.
History from pre-1900
Photo Credit and Article Credit: Margaret Toal, KOGT
This article has been taken from KOGT and a link to the original will be provided at the bottom of the page. What wonderful history! Farmers Mercantile now sits on what was once the Orange Opera House.
As the lumber industry flourished in Orange more than a century ago, so did local entertainment. As wealth grew, so did the expendable income. People dressed to go to the opera house to see traveling shows and local talent performing in benefits.
Orange had at least two opera houses, the Gate City Opera House and later the Orange Opera House, which burned in 1909 about six years after it opened.
Not much information has been saved about the Gate City Opera House. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of 1895 recorded the location and name of buildings and houses. One is on file at the Orange Public Library and it shows Gate City Opera House on the west side of Fifth Street between Division and Front. It is approximately where what is now known as the Southern Printers building stands.
The late historian and physician Dr. Howard Williams once said theaters often burned because candles and lanterns were used as staged lighting in the days before electricity. Still, no record has been found about what happened to the Gate City Opera House.
The name “Gate City” was often used by city leaders in the late 19th Century because they considered Orange “The Gateway to Texas.” The name is preserved in the Gate City Masonic Lodge, which is still active in the Orange.
The Orange Leader in the Sunday, March 8, 1936, edition asked readers for any information about that opera house. The McCord Theater Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas wanted to include Gate City Opera House in an exhibit about Texas theaters set for the state’s centennial celebration that summer.
The newspaper said the museum was looking for a photograph of the opera house when it first opened and any playbills, posters or souvenirs. The group also wanted photographs of Pete Lausen, who was the long-time manager, and a Mr. Guggenheim, the orchestra leader.
“Because of the importance of Gate City Opera House in the history of dramatic entertainment in south Texas, it is hoped that a large collection of material from this house can be included in the historical theater exhibit,” the newspaper quoted the man seeking the information.
No mention can be found at this time on whether the memorabilia from Gate City Opera House was collected or displayed.
Gate City Opera House was gone from the fire insurance maps in 1902. However, a Las Sabinas historical journal of the Orange County Historical Society has a reference to the 1901 Orange High graduating class having a ceremony at Gate City Opera House.
The grand Holland Hotel opened on the corner of Fifth and Division streets in November 1902 and no references are made to an adjacent opera house.
However, the community knew it needed an opera house to go with the fine dining and decor of the Holland Hotel, which came from England and France. Wealthy local investors, including William H. Stark, helped build the hotel. The Handbook to Texas Online includes the Holland Hotel Company as one of his business interests.
Even before the Holland opened, civic leaders were working to get a new theater. The Orange Daily Tribune on May 26, 1902, had a large headline about a new opera house in the plans. The newspaper also announced that a site had been secured for the city’s “big new paper mill,” which later became Equitable Bag.
“The prospect for an opera house for Orange is at last commencing to materialize,” the paper said. “For several months Colonel W. D. Bettis has been assiduously on watch on the scheme and has the ear of some of some New York capitalists and theatrical people.” An architectural drawing by Burt McDonald had been drawn and was on exhibit.
The exterior was 70 feet across and 200 feet deep and was to be made of brick trimmed in “wira cotta.” (sic) Inside would be a reception area, orchestra seats, a large balcony and even four boxes that would seat about five people each. Seating would be about 900.
The Orange Daily Tribune reported on June 22, 1903, about seven months after the Holland Hotel opened, that Phillip Ray, manager of the Rice Star Lyceum entertainment company was in town to see about booking “high grade attractions.” However, Orange had nothing suitable. He suggested the hotel was “far too large” for Orange and the interior could be redesigned to have a theater inside. “If Orange had an opera house, it would not lose money to Beaumont when people travel by train and stay in hotels” to see shows, he said.
He was in town days after a special meeting of the Progressive League had met to discuss building a new opera house. Already, the league had raised more than $7,000 through subscriptions. The Daily Tribune reported the members included former mayor and lumber mill owner J.W. Link, department store owner Harry Crager, businessman Harry Ortmeyer, lumber company executive F.H. Farwell, publisher Charles Rein and Mayor George W. Bancroft. Missing from the meeting were Dr. S.W. Sholars, who was ill, and William H. Stark, who was out of town.
Orange raised the money and the opera house opened. It appears it was called the Orange Opera House. Not all the dramas, lectures and performances were professional. A headline from the Tribune on July 6, 1907, said “Entertainment for a Benefit of Orphans Last Night a Great Success.”
Mrs. Smith’s Sunday school class arranged the benefit. The “Davis quartet was a rare treat.” Mrs. James Lafing recited “Be Calm” and “C.E. Keppler pleased the audience with the reading of a selection in the Dutch dialect.”
An advertisement for a “grand musical comedy” had prices of 15 cents, 25 cents and 50 cents.
The entertainment center didn’t last, though. The October 22, 1909, Tribune reported “The splendid opera house of Orange was totally destroyed by fire between 1 and 2 o’clock (in the morning).” The fire was discovered at 1:20 a.m., the fire alarm sounded at 1:30 p.m. and the fire department arrived at 1:40 p.m. The fire department at the time was on Main Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, only a block away.
Pulaski Hodges, the electrician, and co-managers Will Labit and Edgar Holland had been working late and had “just gone home,” the paper said. The electrician had been working on steel wiring in the curtain and not electricity. The new “alabaster curtain” would be a screen for “motion pictures.” No one had been smoking.
After flames erupted, Hodges tried to go back inside for his tools, but the fire was too intense. The paper said he opened a door and “his hat was sucked into the auditorium with considerable force.” The paper also let people know that L.R. Adams lost his drums valued at $13 and Paul Ragsdale was not rooming at the opera house any longer.
The managers tried to get inside to save the new movie projector, but they, too were unsuccessful.
The Orange Opera House, which stood on Division and Sixth Street, right where Farmers Mercantile is today, was ashes.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-