Texas once had 1,000 dance halls. Now there's a rush to save those that remain

BLANCO, Texas - As she watched couples in cowboy boots whirl across the dance hall her ancestors built in 1879 - the place where she played as a child, met her husband, married off her son and taught her grandchildren to two-step - Jo Nell Haas despaired.

Twin Sisters Dance Hall used to draw people by the hundreds. In the early days, families came from surrounding farms on horseback to waltz Saturday night away under kerosene lamps. Children played in the nursery out back heated by wood stoves. Elders supervised young dancers from the "buzzard's nest," a platform near the entrance, ensuring they didn't get too familiar.

Lyndon B. Johnson is believed to have danced at Twin Sisters growing up. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy winner Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys pioneered western swing from the narrow stage.

But on a recent Saturday, only about 20 people had arrived in time for the first dance of the night.

"This is not hardly anybody," Haas, 61, said as she staffed the door, hoping to sell a few more tickets. The sparse crowd was greeted by a sign advertising