By Scott Carlson-North Platte Post
OGALLALA, Neb.-For the last 58 years, the Front Street Crystal Palace Revue has entertained audiences while keeping the Old West alive in southwest Nebraska.
The Revue will kick off its 58th season on May 28 with a gunfight at 7:15 and the show starting at 7:30 p.m.
The Revue features an old west shootout as well as a show complete with musical numbers, cowboys, and showgirls.
Organizers describe it as a fun show about life in an old west cattle town, recreating life when cowboys came to town following the cattle drive from Texas.
Featuring local talent from North Platte, Hershey, Arthur, Ogallala, Sutherland, Brule, Paxton, and Grant, made up mostly of college students, the Revue is performed Wednesday through Saturday until July, then Tuesday through Saturday until mid-August.
Tickets for the show are $15 for ages 13 and up, $7 for children ages five to 12, and kids four and under are free.
Organizers recommend making reservations as seating at the performances is limited.
For reservations and showtimes, call 308-284-6000.
Some History
Ogallala was the end of the Western or Texas Trail for cowboys bringing cattle from ranches in western Texas to the Union Pacific Railroad for shipment to Chicago and the Spotted Tail Agency in northwest Nebraska.
Approximately seventy-five thousand head of cattle were driven to Ogallala in 1875 and increased to over 100,000 the next year(1876).
The 1880 census showed the permanent population of Ogallala to be 114 people. However, from early spring until late fall, the Cowboy Capital hosted a multitude of cowhands, cattle barons, saloon operators, gamblers, dance hall girls, and tradesmen.
Ogallala has been labeled as a rough and tumble, wild-west town, perhaps due to the 17 violent deaths recorded during the cattle boom.
The Crystal Palace was a real-life early saloon.