- Anarene, Texas
Anarene is a
ghost town in Archer County,Texas ,United States . Its name was used for the town portrayed in the film adaptation ofLarry McMurtry 's novel, "The Last Picture Show ".Geography
Anarene is located at coor dms|33|29|06|N|98|39|57|W|city GR|3.
History
Anarene was founded on the
Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad in 1908, the same year theBelknap Coal Company opened a coal mine in nearby Newcastle. It was named for Anna Laurene Graham, the daughter of pioneer settler J. M. Keen. [Tarpley, Fred "1001 Texas Place Names", (1980) Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, p. 10] Keen began ranching in the area after serving in theConfederate Army in theAmerican Civil War .Anarene's primary industry was the transportation of coal from the Newcastle mine. In 1929 Anarene had a population of 100, a store, a schoolhouse, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a
filling station , and a two-story hotel. Anoil field was discovered nearby in 1921. By 1933 the population had declined to 20. In 1942, coal production ended at the Newcastle mine. The Anarene railroad station closed in 1951, and the railway itself was abandoned in 1954. The same year marked the end of production at the Anarene oil field. The post office, established in 1909, was discontinued in 1955. [ Schmidt, Walter G. "An Encyclopaedia of Texas Post Offices" (1993) Chicago, Illinois: The Collectors' Club of Chicago, p. 38] Much of the ghost town sits on what is now the S.E.R. Ranch.Popular culture
The town portrayed in the 1971 film adaptation of "The Last Picture Show" is called "Anarene", although it is called "Thalia" in Larry McMurtry's novel. The film was actually made some 8 miles to the north of Anarene, in McMurtry's hometown of Archer City, which is widely believed to have been the model for McMurtry's "Thalia". Director
Peter Bogdanovich intended the film as anhomage toHoward Hawks ' "Red River", set inAbilene, Kansas , and chose the name Anarene to evoke a correspondence. [http://www.filmsite.org/lastp.html] Anarene also appears in Bogdanovich's 1990 adaptation of McMurtry's sequel, "Texasville ".References
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* [http://www.historicmarkers.com/Texas/Archer_County_Texas/Extinct_Town_of_Anarene_1520/ Anarene at Historic Markers]
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* [Gnis3|1351087 Anarene Oil Field at the U.S. Geological Survey]External links
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