C.R. facility played host to musicians and politicians

MARION -- If the Armar Ballroom looked similar to an airplane hangar, it's because it was.

Patrons who walked into the new Armar on Sept. 28, 1948, were greeted by a bright red dome accented with thousands of feet of neon tubing. The multicolored interior featured tiered booths near the dance floor, so visitors could see the stage and dancers.

The dance floor sat below the main floor. It was oval and made of hard maple. Cold water from a deep well was used for the air-conditioning system. It and a heating system were designed to heat and cool a million cubic feet of air.

The opening act at the Armar Ballroom was Harry James and his orchestra.

The ballroom was the seventh in a chain of Midwest ballrooms owned by Tom Archer of Des Moines. Its name was derived from Archer and Marion. Manager Norman Harvey said the ballroom held 3,000 people with seating for 1,500.

The first birthday celebration for the ballroom included cake, hats, novelties, balloons and the Ray Pearl Band.

Armar was part of the big band circuit. Eddie Howard, Wayne King, Louis Armstrong, Stan Kenton, Ray Anthony, Count Basie, Les Elgart, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Guy Lombardo played there over the years. Lawrence Welk attracted one of the biggest crowds in 1956. About 3,500 people danced to Welk's Champagne Music.

On June 24, 1950, Vaughn Monroe presented his CBS "Caravan" to about 1,000 people at Armar on a Saturday afternoon. The national network broadcast went on air after one rehearsal.

In an effort to attract teens, the ballroom brought in special shows by Bobby Darin and Paul Anka in the 1950s.

Political gatherings, too

Armar also was a gathering place for political events and visiting dignitaries as well.

In April 1966, Joseph Cardinal Beran, archbishop of Prague, was honored at a banquet in the ballroom. Political rallies involving all three Kennedy brothers, Nelson Rockefeller and Averill Harriman were held at Armar.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. came to Armar to have dinner with his old college friend Rep. John Culver and 1,200 other guests on Sept. 26, 1965. Roast beef and baked ham were served by the Town House restaurant. At that campaign dinner, Culver publicly revealed that he and his wife were expecting a fourth child.

"We're expecting a new precinct committeeman in our house in February," he said. Chester John "Chet" Culver was born Jan. 25, 1966, and eventually became the 41st governor of Iowa in 2007.

In November 1965, former Iowa Rep. James Bromwell and Delaware Sen. James Williams held a Republican dinner. Bromwell was defeated by Culver in his bid for a third term, but not before he authored and helped pass the civil rights legislation of 1964. Williams was the key investigator into a Senate scandal at the time.

Gov. Nelson Rockefeller attended a Rockefeller-Tom Riley dinner at the Armar in May 1968. Ted Kennedy's wife, Joan, returned for another campaign event in October 1968 and shared the Armar stage with Carol Channing. Their objective was to get John Culver re-elected over challenger Tom Riley.

End of an era

By December 1976, Charles Igram was waiting for the title delivery on the ballroom and the surrounding 11.5 acres. The sale of the property was effective Jan. 1, 1977. The property had been owned by a partnership between Joe Sinaiko, Dr. David Thaler, Les Liabo and the Fellman estate, which bought it in 1963 after Archer had died.

Regional bandleader Leo Greco, who started his band the same year that Armar opened and played there often, said: "They used to say the ballroom was the poor man's nightclub. You could take a fifth (of whiskey) to a dance and have a good time."

In March 1977, pieces of the ballroom were auctioned off to Armar patrons, and a restaurant named Applegate's Landing opened.