Big Pavilion Historic Marker research

Archive

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Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

Big Pavilion Historic Marker research

Entry/Object ID

2023.18.13

Scope and Content

File folder filled with documents collected or produced by James Schmiechen to apply for a Michigan Historical Marker for the Big Pavilion site. 5-page application form on fax paper 2 copies of a blurb with references about the Pavilion, 2 pages, stapled. Possibly proposed text for a Michigan state marker, transcribed below. Big Pavilion local studies pamphlet number 1 Photocopy of drawing of Big Pavilion floor plan from page 65 of "Raising the Roof" 1st edition photocopy of pages 346-7 of James Sheridan's "Saugatuck Through the Years" about the Pavilion Photocopies of newspaper articles about the Pavilion Color copy of a satellite image of the Pavilion site with property lot lines indicated with red lines Sketch of a outdoor display concept Letter with SDHC branding appealing for donations to fund the marker, likely drafted by Richard Donovan Color rendering of a marker/interpretive sign that takes cues from the Pavilions architecture, created by Sally Winthers in 2016.

Context

Evidence of various attempts through the year to mark the spot where the Big Pavilion once stood.

Collection

Historic Preservation, 1909 Big Pavilion -1960

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2023.18

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Notes

Folder given to Sally for archiving after SDHC "History Lives Here" program placed Big Pavilion marker in Cook Park in 2022

Location

Box

015 Big Pavilion

General Notes

Note

The Big Pavilion (1909-1960) Known as the "Brightest Spot on the Great Lakes," the Big Pavilion ballroom was opened on the 4th of July weekend, 1909 to an audience dazzled wit the thousands of lights which lined the exterior and the interior of what was one of the largest dance halls in the United States. Built by private investors and referred to as Saugatuck's greatest commercial asset, the original building was 105 feet by 200 feet, with an additional theater extension to the south, and was [sic] essentially one enormous semi-circular arched roof (with no interior posts) of wood rib arches. The arch span was 105 feet and the floor to ceiling height was over 70 feet. The building had four corner towers and the entire structure was painted red. The east and west side of the building has large windows and doors opening onto verandas -- that to the harbor side provided access for large passenger steamships from Chicago and elsewhere which brought "day tripper" vacationers to spend the evening dancing in the Saugatuck to the music of some of America's best known bands and performers -- including Tommy Dorsey, Wayne King, Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, Erskine Tat'es NBC Colored Band, Art Kassel's WBBM Air Orchestra from Chicago, and Oscar Barbino. Dizzy Gillespie performed here in 1959. By 1927 radio air waves were sending "Music live from the Big Pavilion" throughout the Midwest. A movie theater was added in 1919 and in 1930 it was remodeled with a modern sound system and leather seats for 750 persons. In 1938 a large cocktail lounge and restaurant was added to the area below the dance floor -- complete with a "U" shaped bar to seat 60 persons. In the 1940s the Big Pavilion added roller skating to its itinerary and wrestling in the 1950s. The building was completely destroyed by fire on 6 May 1960. The Big Pavilion was in iteself a mirror of much of the history of popular culture in America over the half century of its life. Its birth was a result of the explosion in leisure time in American in the early 20th century -- and the coming of the railroad (including the Grand Rapids and Holland Inter-Urban Railroad), which made access to America's "beauty spots" a reality for millions of people. It helped usher in the ballroom dance craze of the turn of the century and the so-called 'jazz-mad" 1920s and the "big band" decades which followed. In its heyday it catered to as many as a thousand people a day. Its decline in the 1950s mirrored the coming of tetelevision which did much to privatize American popular culture and spell the end of the ballroom era.

Create Date

July 15, 2023

Update Date

July 15, 2023