Mancos Theatre

About

The Mancos Opera House, at 136 W. Grand Ave. in Mancos, Colorado, was built in 1910. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It has also been known as Checkerboard Hall.

It is a three-story building which was built and owned by A.J. Ames and George Woods. It is prominent on Grand Avenue, the main street of Mancos. It and the Bauer Bank Building, also NRHP-listed, "are among the largest, intact commercial buildings in Mancos and in Montezuma County.

On March 10, 1910, A.J. Ames and George D. Woods announced in the Mancos Times and Tribune (the "Times") their intention to build the Mancos Opera House Block to house Woods’ drug store and the Mancos Meat and Grocery Co. on the ground floor, with an Opera Hall on the second floor. Ames and Woods engaged architect W.L. Morse to design the building. W.L. Morse and George Bauer were hired as the contractors for the construction.

On June 3, 1910, Woods and Ames announced in the Times that they intended to construct the building out of locally produced brick to “keep the money at home." On July 29, the Times reported that the brick kiln had been completed, and that 200,000 bricks would be fired. Of those, 100,000 of which would be used for the Opera House, the rest to be used in other projects. By November 11, 1910, the building had progressed to the point that George Woods printed an announcement in the Times that his drug store would hold its opening on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1910 and welcomed the town to the “Big Surprise Party." On December 10, 1910, the Times reported that the auditorium level of the building had been finished, Montezuma County’s first moving picture machine installed, curtains hung, and all was ready for use. On December 16, 1910, The Mancos Meat Grocery Co., Theodore Parker, Proprietor, advertised that they were “Dealer in all kinds of fresh and cured meats, Fruit, Farm Produce, Butter, Eggs, etc.”

For many years high school graduations were held in the hall as well as traveling road shows and square dances. The first moving picture show in Montezuma County was shown in the opera house and in the 1920s, silent movies were held on Saturday nights.[1] After the movie, the ushers removed the seats and a public dance was held. The hall became known as the "Checkerboard Ballroom" because of the checkerboard pattern painted on the floor with numbers in the center of the squares. At the public dances, when the band stopped playing, a number was called and the couple standing on that number won a prize. The music for the dances was usually furnished by local musicians such as the six member Goff family orchestra or the band called the Slumber Wreckers.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.