The
following was adapted by Pete Maher from an article written by Mrs. Clara
(Weary) Chenault for the Thursday, December 17, 1970, edition of The Richmond
News. It provides a comprehensive, personal glimpse of the historic Dougherty
Auditorium/ Farris Theatre of Richmond, Ray County, Missouri.
(Hazel Dougherty Boucher of Florida, also, contributed to this article.)
There is no business like show business.
Comedy and tragedy - the two are wedded for better or worse.
They go through life and, therefore, the theatre, hand-in-hand, trailing
offspring in their wake; farce, melodrama, satire, ballet, burlesque, opera, and
hoedown.
On October 2, 1855, in Franklin, Kentucky, a redheaded, blue-eyed boy, a
seventh son, opened his eyes to see the world for the first time.
He was named Samuel E. Dougherty.
He
laughed, cried, played, fought, and dreamed as most boys do; but his dream came
to be that there was gold in the west to be had for the asking.
Attaining his majority, this young Irishman could stand it no longer and,
in the early 1880s, left for the gold fields to seek his fortune. Evidently, his
leprechaun kept him good company as he landed in Colorado; for, in no time at
all, Dougherty found his pot of gold.
His
was one of the first finds in the Cripple Creek area. He named his find “The
Isabella.”
From
this ore he smelted and made a ring for a bonny lass he had met while on his
trek over the rugged mountain trails. Melinda
Earles and Samuel Dougherty were wed in 1886.
About
this time, in Huneston, Iowa, a black-haired boy entered the world. His name was
Franklin G. Weary, a second son. How
the paths of this young Dutchman and this wandering Irishman would cross were
left for fate to reveal.
Cripple
Creek, essentially a mining camp at the time, was a rowdy place, unsafe for a
decent woman. Soon the Doughertys
moved to Cole City, some 20 miles distant.
Here they began a family when two daughters were born, Anna and Hazel.
But
the mine which young Samuel had opened soon began to founder because he lacked
funds to develop the property.
In
1892, Dougherty struck a deal with a mining corporation, taking half the value
of the mine in cash and the other half in stock.
Dougherty
was once more prospecting, this time for a new home for his family.
In
the interim, his parents had come to Ray County, Missouri.
Dougherty visited and liked it so well he decided to make it
“his town”. In 1893 he
and Melinda purchased a beautiful brick home with a wide lawn and 120 acres.
(The site of the former Dougherty residence was located just east of the current
Business 10 and Business 13 highway east of downtown Richmond. The location is
approximately the location of the misspelled Daugherty Street.)
“Six large maple trees lined each side of the front walk; an orchard was in the back, and a row of low branching cedar trees on the east, screening off a view of the stables, barn, and vegetable garden. It was an ideal place for garden parties and family gatherings,” his daughter, Hazel, recalled.
The
family loved all they saw and those they met.
Sam soon became an active participant in the business community.
He purchased an additional 320 acres on which he fattened feeder calves
for the Kansas City market. He
invested in a men’s clothing store and a bicycle agency, leaving the
management to his partners. This decision later proved to be a financially
disastrous one.
All
this was of little consequence, for the dividend checks were still arriving from
Cripple Creek on time. But, since
he didn’t enjoy farming much, Sam’s interest in the farm-ranch eventually
dwindled. He began looking for a
new investment.
A
fellow prospector, H. A. W. Tabor, had, also, struck pay dirt and built an
impressive opera house in Leadville,
Colo. Sam Dougherty became fascinated with the idea.
By
this time, five of his children were enrolled at the Woodson Institute in
Richmond and were active in the fine arts curriculum. Don’t forget that he
was, after all, an Irishman and had a natural inclination for the dramatic.
But
Sam, also, believed it could be a profitable venture as well.
He felt deeply about “his town”, Richmond; and he wanted to erect a
suitable monument to his family name, a structure which would keep green the
Dougherty name for generations unborn.
But
he couldn’t do this alone; he was not quite that affluent.
On
June 11, 1900, Richmond Mayor Walter Shoop called a meeting of the citizens to
ascertain if they would be receptive to such a proposal.
Then Dougherty explained that a $15,000 opera house could be built on his
corner lot located at Camden and West Main streets, providing the citizens of
the town would raise the sum of $5,000 to his $10,000.
Within
two weeks, the sum of $3,000 had been subscribed by public-spirited donors.
The committee to raise these funds was composed of W. E. Settle, A. M.
Fowler, J. Allen McDonald, and James L. Farris.
There
were those then, as now, resistant to such fresh ideas.