Part six of a series
The Mohawks, a dance band from the Mabel, Minn., and Hesper , Iowa, area, played for 655 dances during the 1930s and 1940s. One of their longer road trips was a 1935 all-afternoon, all-night drive to Lake City. The nearly 200-mile round trip traversed mostly gravel and dirt roads. Returning home, they stopped for a sandwich at an all-night café. They were each paid $5.00 plus a few drinks. When asked how they could drive so far, buy gasoline and work so long for such little pay, accordionist Harold Richert replied that their friends were working in the hot, dirty farm fields for 50 cents a day. “I thought I was paid like a king.” (That $5 pay in 1935 had the purchasing power as does $97 in 2022.)
Photograph courtesy of the La Crosse Public Library Archives
Area musicians could be kept quite busy. Many towns in southeast Minnesota of the era had a local indoor floor for polkas, waltzes, schottisches, the fox trot and maybe roller skating as well. Volunteer fire departments and service organizations had annual fund-raising dances.
There were commercial dance halls, such as the Spring Grove Opera House and Union Hall in Caledonia. The Dike in Lanesboro emerged after being built as a sales barn and was submerged during a 1950 flood. There were community-owned venues, such the Houston Opera House and Eitzen Community Center. The Germania Aid Society operated Germania Hall in Brownsville. There was a 1920s-era dance pavilion at Lake Como in Hokah.
Supper Clubs enhanced their weekend profits with dancing, such as the Yucatan Supper Club, Green Gables in Fountain and the popular 44 Nite Club (later renamed Elmer’s) a mile southwest of Caledonia.
Musicians were not the only ones to travel; many Houston and Fillmore County dancers drove to the spacious dance floors at the Avalon Ballroom in La Crosse, Wis., and Matter’s (pronounced MAH-turz) Ballroom three miles north of Decorah, Iowa, where many of the biggest names in popular music performed.
This 1983 photograph courtesy of the
Winneshiek County Historical Society
Owen Myhre proposed to Mildred Powell in a parking place at Matter’s in the late 1940s. The wedding party had planned a post-wedding celebration at the Avalon, but the groom was too young to remain, probably due to beer being sold.
The Spanish-style Avalon was built in 1927 with the first dance in December before the grand opening April 18, 1928. The floor could comfortably accommodate 1,800 dancers, but 2,400 were present for Harry James and his band and 2,300 for Guy Lombardo. The orchestras of Lawrence Welk, Sammy Kaye, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey and Frank Yankovic were other headliners.
In the 1940s, Avalon advertised weekly dances on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. One night was dedicated to “old time” music (polkas, waltzes), at first on Friday nights, later on Sunday nights. In 1954, the Avalon was used on average of four nights a week, including banquets and conventions. There were 10 wrestling shows that year. The Avalon closed in 1968.
Matter’s, originally built for apple shipping, reigned for nearly nine decades until destroyed by fire in 2003. The first dancers arrived in horses-drawn buggies in 1916, almost 20 years before rural electricity arrived.
The big-band era dominated dancing into the 1930s and 1940s. But things changed during the 1950s and 1960s. The bands’ featured vocalists – such as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby – became celebrities and started separate, competitive careers. Television came into every home, and then rock ‘n roll suddenly changed the face of popular music.
Matter’s and the Avalon survived longer by being able to book some top-notch vocal acts. Grand Ole Opry favorites such as Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells performed at Matter’s as did rock ‘n’ roll stars Jerry Lee Lewis, The Four Seasons, Tony Orlando, Buddy Holly and dozens of other national recording artists. The Beach Boys and Chubby Checker entertained at the Avalon. The Everly Brothers performed at both.
John Matter wisely adapted in 1966 by having a rock ‘n’ roll band in the basement at the same time a traditional band played in the main ballroom. In a few years, the rock band moved upstairs. Although Matter’s was a small-town venue, it earned a big-time reputation that drew patrons from a wide geographical area.
Sources: La Crosse Public Library Archives, National Ballroom & Entertainment Association, Lanesboro Museum, Mildred Myhre, Phil Richert, John and Suzanne Matter.