Silver Dome Ballroom Memories

Pine Valley Township, Clark Co., WI

Contributed by Halbert “Bud” Hardrath; Transcribed by Crystal Wendt

The Silver Dome Ballroom

Contributed by Bud Hardrath & Shari Hahn

Neillsville – When the Keller Brothers began building the Silver Dome Ball Room in 1929, they envisioned a completely different structure than the one sitting along Highway 10 today.

“It was supposed to be a square,” said current owner Louis Kessler. “They got down to the end and decided they wanted it curved, which was no easy task with the diamond-shape lamella truss ceiling they were building.

“I really feel sorry for the guy who had to cut all that wood just right.”

It’s hard to say if a “Silver Square Ball Room” would have received the notoriety of the current structure. One such reward was the structure’s recent naming to the National Registry of Historical Places.

“I think the distinction is well-deserving of this structure,” Kessler said. “This is the only building like it in the work and now that fact has been recognized.”

The structure was built in 1929 and the doors were opened in 1933. For many years the building was open to nationally recognized entertainment as well as local acts. The spot was and still is the spot for wedding dances and anniversary parties.

Beside the lamella truss roof, the building features a large stage, the original maple dance floor and a uniqure bar. The round bar is 100 feet long and features six tills to accommodate a half-dozen bartenders.

“Back when this place fist opened, it would take six people back there to keep up with the crowds,” Kessler said.

“Even today we normally use four or five.”

Today, the building is used primarily for special occasion private parties and there is easily room to seat close to 500 people.

The Kellers used the building for several years to hold dances with famous entertainers. The facility was open to those 18 and older and the bar had to be sectioned off from the rest of the dance hall because 18 year-olds were only allowed to drink beer at the time.

A separate bar was built behind the stage to accommodate the younger drinkers.

Kessler worked as a bouncer in the bar after getting married in 1954. He, like many people, had his wedding dance at the Ball Room.

“That’s my most special memory about the building,” Kessler said. “We had Howie Sturtz, who had only been around awhile at that time, play at our wedding dance.

“This building has always been special to me.”

It was that feeling and the love for the building’s history that made Kessler decide to buy the building in 1972. Most of the facility’s fixtures are original and Kessler has tried to maintain the building’s sense of history.

Several photos and posters of bands who once played the Ball Room now adorn the walls. The list of performers is a long one and everyone seems to have their own special memories.

Sturtz remembers the warm summer nights at the Silver Dome Ballroom both as a patron and as a performer on the main stage.

In was 1947 when his orchestra fist played on the stage. It was also around that time when he went to the facility to hear some of the biggest names in music.

“One of the greatest things I ever saw on that stage was the legendary Count Basie play April in Paris,” Sturtz said. “I had seen him play before at the Attic in Milwaukee, but it was much better that night at the ball room.

“He brought an 18 to 20 piece band with him and they just wailed away.”

Sturtz, of Neillsville, who has play with his orchestra for more than 50 years, say he has played at the Silver Dome more than any other act. And besides the thrill of seeing several big acts, playing on the stage will always be special to Sturtz.

“I remember standing on that stage for the fist time,” Sturtz recalled. “It was much bigger in those days and I remember standing on the piano and doing all kinds of things to excite the kids.”

“I was 17 years-old and thought I had died and went to heaven.”

Sturtz also remembers a story involving a stranger passing through the area during the prohibition.

“In those days if you wanted a drink, you had to know someone,” Sturtz said. “Some young men were traveling through when they stopped by the Silver Dome Supper Club one night. The men were led to the basement and given a drink.”

“The young man asked if he could play a few songs on his guitar, which he did. Turned out that young was Gene Autry.”

Top entertainment at the Ball Room continued for many years. Other big names to take the Silver Dome Stage were Duke Ellington, Lawrence Welk and one singer performed before he became famous.

“When he played here in 1954, he was just starting out,” Kessler said. “But now, just about everybody has heard of George Jones.”

In the 60s and 70s, Saturday night at the facility was reserved for “old-time music, but Fridays featured Rock and Roll. National known acts like Tommy James and the Shondells and the Grassroots made regular appearances.

But the biggest draw of the 70s was a Madison-based band named Clicker.

“Those guys played here a few times and we would always pack in between 800 and 1,100 people at a time,” Kessler said. “I have no idea why they drew like they did. They put on a good show and the kids just loved it.”

Sources: Scrap book one:  by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath, Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Sat., 16 Aug. 1997; Front Page

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News: Neillsville – Silver Dome Ballroom, Past and Present (2017)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Cash, Jones, Welk, Reed, Young, Myren, Kessler, Keller, Luedtke

Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, WI) 08 Sep 2017


(Written by Mitchell A. Skurzewski – USA Today Network – Wisconsin)

NEILLSVILLE - Johnny Cash. George Jones. Lawrence Welk Orchestra. Count Basie. Foghat. Cheap Trick. Jerry Reed. Styx. Neil Young.

What do these legendary musicians have in common?

They have all performed at the Silver Dome Ballroom, a historic music venue along U.S. 10, about 5 miles west of Neillsville in Clark County.

The Silver Dome Ballroom was built in 1933 and has brought many top acts to the central Wisconsin countryside. The ballroom also served as a supper club at one time.

Current owner Doug Myren bought the Silver Dome Ballroom in 2000 from Louis and Shirley Kessler, who owned the ballroom for nearly 30 years.

Myren was intrigued by the building when he passed it during trips from his home in Somerset to Green Bay for Packer games. He stopped in to talk with the previous owners on one of those trips and during the conversation about the place Louis Kessler said, "Well, maybe you'd like to buy this place?" Myren said maybe and the two worked out an agreement during the next few months. "I really happened into it by accident," Myren said. "It was just the right time for me and my love of music, its history and it came along at an opportune time.

Silver Dome Ballroom was listed in the National Register of Historic Place by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 1997 for the long list of entertainment it hosted and its one-of-a- kind architecture, Myren said.

The ballroom's name, Silver Dome, refers to its original silver colored, aluminum-painted roof, which has since been shingled. It was built by the Keller brothers during The Great Depression n and Prohibition Era.

The Keller brothers previously built the neighboring Fireplace, a basement speakeasy and ground floor supper club, which now operates as The Speakeasy.

The brothers decided on a Lamella truss design, which refers to the diamond-shaped honeycomb pattern of bolted ceiling beams. The purpose of this design is to not have any of the beams obstruct the view of the dance floor.

No other Lamella truss dome structure has ever featured the rounded, band-shell style ends found on the Silver Dome, Myren said. Most buildings have the square ends.

"It's really a one-of-a- kind building," Myren said. "That's what kind of drew me to it. Just thinking of all the great artists that performed here is pretty amazing." |

Myren said the highlight of the Silver Dome Ballroom's history has to be when country music legend Johnny Cash, on his rise in the music business at the time, played a show at the ballroom in 1958. Another country music superstar, George Jones, opened for Cash, and admission was $1.25.

"It's pretty hard to top that," Myren said.

Myren still schedules some shows at the ballroom as he balances owning the historic venue and working as a public de-fender in the Twin Cities.

The next show is the seventh annual Blues Party on Oct. 21. Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Studebaker John & The Hawks und Crankshaft will per- c form. Doors open at 5 p.m., and music starts at 7:30 is p.m. Admission is $20 at the door.

A free pre-party show Is .featuring Howard "Guitar" Luedtke will be from 4- 7to 10 p.m. Oct. 20. Doors open at 5 p.m.

"We still put on shows and bring in people," Myren said. "This place has a great past, but it has a future too."