"Celebrating the celebration of the Old West"
In the 1880s, there wasn't much in Anson, Texas, in the way of entertainment for the area s cowhands. But Star Hotel operator M. G. Rhodes changed that when he hosted a Grand Ball the weekend before Christmas. A restless traveling salesman, rancher, and poet from New York named William Lawrence Chittenden, a guest at the Star Hotel, was so impressed with the soiree that he penned his observances in the poem The Cowboys Christmas Ball.
Reenacted annually since 1934 based on Chittenden s poem, the contemporary dances attract people from...