Pioneer Hall
Pioneer Hall was built for the single purpose of creating a permanent home for the Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball. Construction was completed in 1940 with assistance from the Works Project Administration. The 8,600 square foot hall boasts a large, beautiful oak floor and has a spacious barrel roof. Since 1940, the Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball Association has hosted the Ball at Pioneer Hall for three consecutive nights in December. The initial Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball was held in 1885 at the Star Hotel in Anson, Texas. The Hotel’s owner, Mr. M. G. Rhodes, hosted a grand ball for residents and cowboys from the surrounding region. Larry Chittenden, an author from New York, was so inspired by his attendance at the dance that he composed a poem commemorating the occasion, “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.” The Ball quickly gained national notoriety as his poem was widely published in periodicals of the day. In 1985, Michael Martin Murphey, cowboy singer, song writer and western historian, recorded the, The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball. Murphy began performing at the Ball in 1994 and continues to perform one night at the annual ball each year.