July 17, 2018
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
Last
Tuesday, we shared information about John Phillips Sousa and his performance at
the Opera House in 1904. Remember Sousa
had been here for a previous performance in 1902. He and his band members spent a night at the
city’s most prestigious hotel, the Bartell House, on the corner of Sixth and
Washington Streets in Junction City.
In 1904 the
plan was to arrive by train, play the concert at the Opera House and the leave
immediately for Salina. However, let’s
go back a few years when Sousa was still the director of the Marine Band. He had served under five presidents and
composed many of his most famous marches while with the band.
David
Blakely, who was a promoter, convinced Sousa to leave the Marines after Sousa
and his band completed two successful tours.
So he left the Marines in 1892 and formed his own concert band. It was on the return voyage from Europe in
1896 that Sousa wrote his famous march “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
When the
United States entered WWI, Sousa was 62 years old. He joined the Naval Reserve as musical
director. He received the rank of
Lieutenant Commander and was paid $1.00 per month to conduct concerts
throughout the country on behalf of Liberty Loan drives.
He was known
as the “March King” and died in 1932 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery near
the city of his birth.
When Sousa
and his band came to Junction City for their performance at the Opera House in
1904, the town’s merchants and businessmen announced they would be closed
during the hours of the afternoon concert “to give those who desire an opportunity
to hear Sousa’s band.” This was done in
spite of the fact that the business district was full of out of town
shoppers. The next day the “Union”
newspaper summed it all up with the following statement. “Sousa gave a matinee concert in the Opera House
Friday afternoon that will long be remembered by all who heard it. There was not a vacant seat in the house and
most of the people who come in from surrounding towns and the post were
disappointed, for they thought they would get to hear Sousa on the streets.”
Our Opera
House has hosted many talented performers.
If it has been a while since you have attended a performance, please
plan to do so during the next season.
You can go online or call the C.L. Hoover Opera House for information on
how to get tickets at 785-238-3906.
And that’s
today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment