The+Col++Ballroom+Dances+the+Night+Away


 * The Col Ballroom Dances the Night Away **

Original Author: Rachel Baraks, ENG 346 FL12 Revision Author:

The Col Ballroom, located on the west side of Davenport IA has served as a source of entertainment in the Quad Cities area for over one hundred years. The legendary ballroom has stood the test of time. It tragically burned down in 1913, only to thrive again after being rebuilt in 1914. (Wundrum, 217). Many people associate the Col Ballroom with the variety of renowned musicians that have appeared there throughout the years, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Jimi Hendrix. Few are familiar, however, that the “Col”, as it has been called since 1956, has a colorful history of promoting dance in the Quad Cities. It even hosted regular dance competitions from the 1930’s all the way until the 1950’s (Wundrum, 217). The Col was described by its earliest patrons as having “10,000 square feet of glistening dance floor, a balcony café with booths for 800 people, a rustic tap room, and a summer garden with tables and booths under the stars” (Berry, A-6). It was clearly viewed as magnificent by its loyal patrons, and still remains a signature piece of Davenport’s history. Throughout its lengthy past, the Col has offered everything from “sing and sway with Sammy Kaye to shake rattle and roll with the latest hard rock outfits” (Berry, A-6). As recent as the late 1990’s the Col continued to offer young people a place to dance by hosting teen nights once a week on Fridays.

As the popularity of dancing continued to boom during the 1930’s and 1940’s, so too did the popularity of the Col. It was such a popular place for young people of the time to get together and dance, that for many years trolleys ran one am specials directly from the ballroom to Rock Island so that patrons could have a ride home after a long night dancing and partying (Wundrum 119). These trolleys had clever nicknames such as “Show Me the Way to Go Home” (Wundrum, 119). Don Wachel, longtime owner of the Col stated, “We’ve always loved to dance” (Wundrum, 119). “In the days when the trolleys ran through the tri-cities, bringing the young to the Col, they followed the rhythms of the Turkey Trot, the Charleston, waltzes with dips, and the old banjo step, the Big Apple” (Wundrum, 119). The Col hosted regular Wednesday dances to live big bands during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Anybody who was anybody was there on Wednesday night, shelling out thirty-five cents to join the excitement and energy inside (Willard, 2). These Wednesday night dances hosted an array of famous musicians including, Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, The Glen Miller Band, and Doris Day (Willard, 2). These weekly dances offered people an opportunity to escape from the struggles of daily life during both the Great Depression and World War II. An individual, during the depression, could buy a “bottle of alcohol for fifty cents and admission for fifty cents” and dance their worries away for one night at only the cost of one dollar (Lane).

The weekly dances at the Col not only provided people with entertainment, they also proved to be a great place to meet potential significant others. A past frequenter of the Col, Thomas Frank, stated in a Quad City Times article “The only way to meet girls was to go to the dance at the Coliseum, so we went” (Lane). Frank, like many young men his age, visited the Col at least once a week. He states in the article that while home on a two week break from his studies at the University of Iowa he visited the Col twelve of the fourteen nights while home (Lane). It was during this period, the mid 1900’s, that the ballroom was open seven days a week (Lane). “Girls would come in groups of 20 or 30” (Lane). The ballroom was viewed by many adults as a “big parlor where young people would meet and eventually get married” (Lane). Many a young person met their future spouse during a dance at the Col. So many people met and fell in love while dancing there, that the ballroom actually hosted a party for couples who met at the Col and eventually married (Wundrum, 120). Over one thousand couples showed up to reminisce and of course dance that night, one of the biggest turnouts the ballroom had ever had (Wundrum 120). Don Wachel feels this number is only a fraction of the actual number of couples who met there, being that many of them were scattered all across the country making it difficult to find them (Wundrum 120). Always a destination for romance, the large neon sign outside the Col declared, “The Col-Dance and Romance” (Wundrum 120).

Although dance styles and music have changed, the Col has continued to adapt to stay relevant with current trends. The ballroom has undergone many physical transformations during its one hundred years, in order to stay up to date. During the 1960’s the Col transformed from a “glistening ballroom” into a psychedelic go-go club. The “Good Guy a Go-Go Night” was complete with girls dancing in cages, flashing lights, and a light up dance floor (Renkes, 3). It was considered a forerunner in the disco age and was the only club of its kind available in the Midwest outside of Chicago (Renkes, 3). In the mid 1980s the Col hosted “Relieve It Saturday Night” where once again the ballroom was transformed into a groovy nightclub where lovers of the disco era could again do the “hustle” and “the electric slide” (Renkes, 3). The resurgence of popularity in swing music and swing dancing in the late 1990s made the Col a fashionable place once again for young people to practice their latest moves (Wundrum 217). The same music that made the Col the place to be in the 1940s once again echoed across the ballroom floor. Also during the 1990’s the Col began hosting teen dance nights. Every Friday was designated as “18 and under”, and teenagers were welcome to dance to top forty hits (Wundrum, 217). The Quad Cities Plus 60 Club regularly hosts dance nights at the ballroom, and has been known to attract as many as six hundred guests (Wundrum, 217). The Col is currently working on attracting larger bands from across the country; however it still remains a popular destination for local clubs as well as private individuals to host dance nights and special events (The Col). With a colorful history filled with dance and romance the Col, remains the ballroom sweetheart in Davenport’s musical history.

Berry, Barbara. “The Col-Grand Old Ballroom Of the Quad Cities”. //Showcase//, 17 July, 1971. Pg A-6. The Col Ballroom. //thecolballroom.com//. Lane, Marilyn. “Want to Dance? Sixty Years of Memories At The Col”. //Davenport Leader//, 1 Nov, 1989. Renkes, Jim. “Relive It Saturday Night”. //Quad City Times//, 4 Oct 1986. Pg 3 Willard, John. “Owner Jazzes Up The Col Ballroom”. //Quad City Times//, 2 June 1991. Page 2 Wundrum, Bill. //A Time We Remember. Celebrating A Century In Our Quad Cities//. Bill Wundrum and the //Quad City Times//. Davenport IA,1999, pgs 119-120 and 217.
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