On a cold, gray Saturday morning, rain drizzles through the roof, forming a small pool on the stage of the Tall Chief Theater in Fairfax, a town of 1,100 people between Pawhuska and Ponca City. About seven years ago, a tornado damaged the century-old building, which once welcomed some of the wealthiest people in the world to see films and live performances in the 1930s.

"We have this wonderful natural skylight that lets in the light and rain and birds, and it’s just lovely," Carol Conner says jokingly.

As the director of both the theater and the Fairfax Community Foundation, Conner leads tours for visitors and spearheads efforts to restore the building as a symbol of the resilience of the Osage people and Fairfax itself.

It's unclear exactly who owned the theater after Alex Tall Chief left for California. Photo by Saxon Smith

In the last few years, the world has become more interested in the town and the tribe’s history. Fairfax was the location of the years-long string of murders known as the Osage Reign of Terror, memorialized in the book Killers of the Flower Moon and director Martin Scorsese’s screen adaptation, which was released in October 2023. Conner is betting on the success of the movie to attract tourists and raise the money to restore the landmark to the community space she feels the town and tribe deserve. This was the same mission of its original benefactor, Alex Tall Chief, a Fairfax resident and Osage Nation member. In the 1920s, he paid for the theater’s construction to give the town something joyful following a decade of heartbreak.

Gazing up at the hole in the roof, a sixty-person tour group from Kansas listens to the story of the building, which used to seat eight hundred people. They’ve all read the book and seen the movie. Now, for a $25 tour ticket, they want to see the theater, the historic sites, and the filming locations in Fairfax. Visitors hug their arms around themselves to keep warm as Conner weaves together the theater’s past and hopeful future.

With an estimated price tag of $2.5 million, the restoration won’t be paid for solely with $25 tours. The community foundation raised enough to repair the roof—which was completed last spring—but there’s still a long way to go.

An exhibit on the Reign of Terror in the theater gallery outlines a brief history of the Osage Nation and its relationship with oil. It tells how tribal members settled on land in northeastern Oklahoma, which was legally promised to them by the federal government in the 1870s. Fairfax turned into a boomtown after vast oil deposits were found underneath the surface. Osages held onto their right to the land and oil through the turn of the twentieth century and became some of the richest people in the world per capita.

In 1921, the federal government’s guardianship system forced many Osages to report to an appointed guardian—usually a white businessman—for their finances if they were deemed incompetent to handle their purchases and investments. As the scheme became more lucrative, Osage began dying in mysterious and not-so-mysterious ways. At least sixty murders occurred throughout the 1920s for control over their rights, according to the Osage Nation.

Enter Alex Tall Chief, an influential Osage tribal member. Wealthy from his family’s oil rights, he paid for the construction of the theater, which opened in 1928. Conner’s father-in-law, Don, was friends with Tall Chief.

"Alex told Don, ‘I’m building this so that there’s something positive in this community,’” Conner says. "I mean, would you want to even come out of your house if you knew somebody might blow it up?"

Carol Conner hosts tours for history enthusiasts every Thursday and Friday. Photo by Saxon Smith

The Tall Chiefs eventually moved to California so their daughters, Maria and Marjorie, could study ballet. Maria became America’s first prima ballerina. Both were members of the Five Moons, a group of Native prima ballerinas from Oklahoma who achieved international acclaim. According to theater staff, both sisters performed on the stage as children and during their illustrious careers as adults.

"If we didn’t murder you, and we didn’t rip you off, and you got to decide what to do with this incredible wealth, look what you could do," Conner says. "It’s the contrast of the tragedy of the murders, and then the triumph of the Osage spirit."

Walking through the building, it is easy to imagine how lush the theater was during its glory days—velvet curtains on the walls and curving staircases up to the second floor. A balcony seat must have felt like a night out in New York City.

"They did a lot that they didn’t have to do, but they did it because they had the money to do it," says Owen Hutcheson, tour guide and Osage Nation member. "The Osages are very colorful people. They really love their adornments."

Tours of the Tall Chief Theater help raise funds and spread awareness of the historic site. Photo by Saxon Smith

In addition to the roof repair, full restoration plans include turning the theater into a community and event space for performances and screenings—the Maria and Marjorie Tallchief Performing Arts & Events Center—and converting the neighboring bank into the National Memorial to the Osage Victims of the Reign of Terror.

"People send me $15, $25, $100," Conner says. "It’s very touching, but we need big investors to step up, and that hasn’t happened."

After sobering reminders of the effects of greed and racism on the town of Fairfax, Conner begins the light part of her presentation—a slideshow of the antics of living across the street from a film set for a few months. The crowd laughs at her stories of Leonardo DiCaprio chain-smoking and the great lengths the production took to mimic the 1920s.

For now, she’ll take advantage of the opportunities in front of her and raise funds—$25 at a time.

Written By

Paige Willett