History

Chautauqua, Texas?  Well there isn't really a Chautauqua, Texas.  I figured that Waxahachie was to hard to say and spell.  Then again Chautauqua isn't so easy either.  Why Chautauqua?  This model is named after the 100+ year old Chautauqua Theater in Waxahachie.  Still in use today.  Beautiful old octagonal wooden building.  It speaks to you when you enter.  It begins to tell you its story while the modern theatrical performances add  to the pages still being written.

 The Chautauqua theater sits in the heart of Waxahachie, Texas.  Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis County (home of Lee Banjos) has been nicknamed the Gingerbread City because of the architecture of several beautiful homes and buildings remaining from before 1900. A yearly tour known as the Gingerbread Trail includes Victorian-style houses with gingerbread carpentry, the most popular architectural style, as well as combinations with Queen Ann's, Classic Renaissance, or Roman Doric revival. The red sandstone and granite Victorian courthouse, designed by James Riley Gordon and completed in 1897, graces the town's square. The Nicholas P. Sims Library (1905) and the octagonal shaped Chautauqua Auditorium (1902) are examples of the 300 Waxahachie structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1980s four movies were filmed in Waxahachie-Places in the Heart, 1918, Tender Mercies (all 1985) and The Trip to Bountiful (1986). The town is home to the Ellis County Historical Museum and Gallery and also hosts the annual Scarborough Renaissance Faire, the annual Bethlehem Revisited and an annual Christmas parade and tour of homes. In 1990 Waxahachie had a population of 18,168.

Our Choice?

We chose the name “Chautauqua” because it means storyteller.   The Chautauqua Theater is still in use today.  It speaks to you when you enter.  The banjo has a story to tell as well, of a time when friends “old and new” joined together to share joys and sorrows.  The Chautauqua banjo is a reminder of playing on front porches across this country 100 years ago as well as being a reminder of the traveling "Chautauquas", tent shows which traveled across early America.