Typed as spelled and written
Lena Stone Criswell

THE MARLIN DEMOCRAT
Thirteenth Year - Number 32
Marlin, Texas, Thursday, October 9, 1902

GRAND OPENING.
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Marlin's New Play House Opened
Under Favorable Conditions.
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Large Crowd Present and Good Play
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       The people of Marlin have with practical unanimity, been looking forward with much pleasant anticipation to the opening of the Grand Opera House.  The feeling has been and is well nigh unanimous that the erection of an opera house in Marlin marks an epoch in the material advancement of the great Mineral Water resort.  Now that they have it through the progressiveness of one of her own citizens, they feel that much will be added to the fame of Marlin in this one agency as lending most effectively to the means of entertainment, not only for our citizens but to those who are visitors.
       The enterprise is in the nature of filling a long felt want and it is highly commendable that Marlin people appreciate the importance and the good results to follow and we have no doubt that the Grand will enjoy the patronage it richly deserves.
       The opening of the Grand last night was attended by "a full house."  In fact it was the largest theatre party that ever assembled in Marlin.
       The new play house is everything that could be desired in an institution of this kind.  The seating capacity of the Grand is ample for six hundred people, the stage, an important feature of any well appointed opera house, is large and well supplied with the necessary equipment that is a joy to the opera company and a pleasure to the opera goers.
       The seats are splendidly arranged so as to afford an excellent view of the stage from every part of the house.  The accoustie properities of the building are good and the ventilation, lighting and general arrangements are all that an exacting public could wish for.  In short Marlin has an opera house, in the Grand, that is more than a credit to the enterprise and push of its owner and manager, Mr. J. G. Oltorf.

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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing
by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas