St. Cloud Area Ballrooms Past and Present; First Installment

The St. Cloud area has and continues to have iconic ballrooms.  This is our first installment with local historian Jim Grabinski.  He joined me on WJON to highlight the ballrooms that hosted numerous weddings, concerts and events.  He says the popularity of ballrooms peaked in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

The Fairgrounds Ballroom - This was located in Sauk Rapids on the Benton County Fairgrounds.  The building was located to the right of what is now the main entrance.  The building no longer exists.  Grabinski says it opened in 1910 and was primary used for wedding dances until the 1930s.  New ownership took over in the 1930s and changed the name to the "Fairgrounds Pavilion" and added a large bar.  They were open to dances on weekends.  Grabinski says the cost to attend a dance in the 1930s was 40 cents for men and 25 cents for women.  In 1957 the ownership changed again.  He says the new owners felt the popularity of rock-n-roll hurt the ballroom business.  It remained open until 1983.

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Granite City Ballroom - The first one was built in the early 1930s west of St. Cloud along old Highway 52 where Eide Chrysler Dodge Jeep is currently located.  The first Granite City Ballroom burned down on New Year's Eve of 1935.  Grabinski says 1 year later a much larger Granite City Ballroom was built in the same location.  It was built out of cinder block.  He says this building burnt down in 1972.

Crystal Ballroom - In 1937 the Crystal Ballroom opened along what was known as "The Foley Road" along East St. Germain Street where the McDonald's along Highway 10 is today.  Grabinski says in the 40s and 50s the ballroom was known as the Ballerina.  He says it was also used for roller skating.  Grabinski says that building was taken down in 1965.

Playland Ballroom - The Playland Ballroom was located in Kimball.  It was purchased by Harold and Dorothy Schmitz after they quit farming in 1957.  Grabinski recalls old time music being performed there before the 1960s when they incorporated rock-n-roll bands.  He says the owners indicated they had fights every night so they discontinued it. Six years later the owners brought back rock-n-roll bands and this time it worked without too much difficulty.  In 2008 the Schmitz' sold it to Kari Johnson and Skip Nolan.  They changed the name to "Generations".  In 2016 Skip's brother Sterling brought it and now it's North Star and is used for Auctions.

Cedar Point Ballroom - It once was the Little Rock Pavilion on Little Rock Lake on Highway 10 south of Rice.  The Little Rock Pavilion was built in 1935.  It was moved by truck to St. Augusta in 1953.  Grabinski says the facility included two maple dance floors.  He says the business initially wasn't open Saturday nights because the highly Catholic community didn't want weddings on Saturday nights.  In the 1970s the Catholic church rules eased allowing weddings to take place on Saturdays.  Grabinski says in 1976 the owners expanded the building to host wedding receptions and business banquets.  This continued for about 20 years.  The building doesn't currently exist.  It was where the Harvest Bank is and Cedar Point Apartments currently are in St. Augusta.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Jim Grabinski, it is available below.  More ballrooms will be featured in the next edition.