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Christmas Special
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan
Serving KU for 77 of its 101 Years
Section 2
77th Year, No. 51
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Monday, December 5, 1966
Red Dog is era of history
FROM AN 1800 HARDWARE STORE TO A 1966 ENTERTAINMENT SPOT
The Red Dog Inn, the entertainment center of Lawrence and KU, has a century old history. It housed a hardware store, the Lawrence Tribune, was destroyed in Quantrell's raid in 1863, became an opera house, was burned in 1911 and in 1964 the building was leased to the present Red Dog Inn Inc.
By EUGENE TESSON
Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night, KU students crowd into the Red Dog Inn to dance to their favorite bands and to drink their favorite beverage.
The Red Dog, in its brief career of less than two years, has become the entertainment center of Lawrence and KU. The success of this night spot may be attributed to the combination of the old and new it possesses.
While featuring the most modern entertainment, the Red Dog goes back to another era for its atmosphere. The building was not intended to be a nightspot. It was not intended to be a movie theater, either, when it was first built.
Back in 1912, it had a pit orchestra and box seats on either side of a large stage. Operas and vaudeville shows were being presented here before movies were ever invented.
THE TRADITION of entertainment was firmly established long before the building was built. Beginning in 1885, KU students went there to see operes, vaudeville plays, movies and bands.
The history of the three buildings which have stood on the line of the Red Dog dates back even farther; all the way back the founding of Lawrence in 1854.
The first building was a hardware store, constructed in either 1854 or 1855. Later the Lawrence Tribune acquired it and used it until it was destroyed in Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, Aug. 21, 1863.
A SECOND BUILDING, built by Samuel Edwin Poole in 1869, was a meat market and packing plant. Over the years two more floors were added. Eventually the upstairs was remodeled into Liberty Hall, a large meeting hall. Such famous men as Horace Greeley and Henry Ward Beecher spoke in this hall.
It was also used as an auditorium for social and political functions. It was at this time that the building was first used as an entertainment center.
Under the next owner, J. D. Bowersock, the building acquired a reputation for presenting the popular entertainment of the Gay Nineties;
Bowersock came to Lawrence in 1877, when industry was at a low ebb. He was a major force in putting the community back on its feet.
Several firms had attempted to erect a dam across the Kaw River to harness electrical power, but had failed and gone bankrupt. Bowersock took over this project, and completed the first dam and power plant at Lawrence.
He also started the Douglas County Elevator and Warehouses, Lawrence Paper Mill, Lawrence Iron Works, and the Douglas County Bank, now the Lawrence National Bank.
BOWERSOCK WAS MAYOR twice, and served Kansas as a congressman in Washington from 1898-1906.
In 1885 Bowersock bought Poole's building. He converted the second, third and fourth floors into an opera house. This was known as the Bowersock Opera House.
The first floor was used as the post office for a number of years, and was finally taken over by the Lawrence Journal.
On Feb. 18, 1911, a fire started under the stage and quickly spread throughout the building and it burned to the ground.
Bowersock, a man who was not discouraged easily, reputedly said he would construct another opera house, "One which couldn't burn down." This was to be the present Red Dog building.
Bowersock's new operahouse, the Bowersock Theater, was opened Jan. 22, 1912. The first attraction was "Bright Eyes," starring Cecil Lean and Florence Holbrook.
Mr. Dick Wagstaff, who was assistant superintendent of Buildings and Grounds for 20 years, and is Dean Woodruff's brother-in-law, was the treasurer of the Bowersock Theater for a number of years.
WAGSTAFF remembers that the price of tickets was usually $2.00, but would go as high as $2.50 for a good show, or down as low as 25° for an inferior production.
Balcony seats were the least expensive, and it was here that KU students sat. They would
heckle the performers, shout, and throw programs from the balcony down on the people sitting below if the show was not good.
"One night," Wagstaff commented, "a sorority had one of the side boxes, next to the stage. During one act, many of the girls started to powder their faces. The star performer, seeing this, walked off the stage in disgust. I had to go to her room and promise her that it would not happen again, before she would go back on stage."
THE CIVIL DEFENSE, checking Lawrence buildings for possible bomb shelter locations within the last five years, said that the Red Dog is one of the safest
In 1931 Bowersock's statement about the building being fireproof was proven. A fire started inside and gutted the interior completely. However, the only signs of damage outside were the cracked and blackened windows and doors. The fire had been completely contained inside.
buildings in town for a bomb shelter. It has a steel-reinforced concrete roof and floor, and reinforced brick walls two feet thick. The balcony is of a reinforced concrete design of the type used for football stadiums.
Sometime after the war, Bowersock leased the theater and projection equipment was installed. The first "talkie" movie, the "Canary Murder Case," was shown in May, 1928.
In 1923, Bowersock sold the theater to Glen W. Dickenson Sr. The marque was changed to the "Dickinson." Dickenson's son, a KU Law School graduate, although he does not own this building, has built a chain of 0:0 movie houses over the years. For a number of years KU senior plays were held in the Dickenson.
In 1939, Dickenson leased the building to the Commonwealth Theater Corporation, which now owns the Varsity and Granada theaters. A contest was held to pick a new name for the theater.
Jayhawker was chosen as the best name, possibly because of the close association the show had with KU.
In May, 1940, the Jayhawker hosted the world premiere of "Dark Command," a picture about Quantrell's raid on Lawrence in 1.63. John Wayne was the hero, and Walter Fidgeon played Quantrell. Also in the picture were Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, Wendy Barrie, Ona Munson and Claire Trevor.
FIVE KU WOMEN were selected as a welcoming committee for the stars. When the celebrities arrived via train, the coeds met them in cowgirl outfits.
A contest was also held to pick "dates" for the stars.
Seventy thousand people lined Massachusetts Street to see a huge parade. Students cut classes to take part in this celebration.
The Santa Fe Railroad sent an old-time steam locomotive to Lawrence. It ran up Massachusetts Street on the trolley car tracks. The army museum at Leavenworth sent Conestoga wagons and stage coaches for the parade.
ENTERTAINMENT IS NOTHING NEW AT SEVENTH AND MASSACHUSETTS
Before the Red Dog Inn took over the old Bowersock Theater at the corner of Seventh and Massachusetts streets, the buildings on the site varied from a hardware store to an opera house. At left is the first Bowersock Theater before it was destroyed by fire in 1911. Today the Red Dog Lnn finds it home at that corner.
The Jayhawker operated until 1559. It was then sold to a group of local businessmen who used it as a warehouse.
In 1964 the building was leased to Red Dog, Inc., which is headed by John Brown and Mike Murfin, who both attended KU recently. The building was remodeled and renamed the Red Dog Inn. The name was Brown's idea.
THE TRADITION of entertainment has been continued by the Red Dog. Where once the Barrymores and Jean Eagles performed, now well known bands such as "Sam the Sham" and the "Pharoahs" perform.
The success of the Red Dog has been so phenomenal that Brown and Murfin opened another Red Dog in Wichita this September, for the University of Wichita. It is also doing very well.