You are here

Wisconsin » Central Plains » Clark County » Neillsville and Vicinity » Silver Dome Ballroom

Silver Dome Ballroom

-A A +A
1931–1933, Cornel Moen. W7670 U.S. 10
  • (Photograph by Paul J. Jakubovich, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society)

At night, the Silver Dome Ballroom looks much like a space ship that landed amid agricultural fields. The elliptical building employs lamella trusses, a roofing system designed by German inventor Friedrich Zollinger in 1908. He registered the U.S. patent for it in 1924 and subsequently reassigned the patent to Lamella Roof Syndicate, Inc. Local builder Moen modified Zollinger’s design to create a domed effect at the ends. The lamella truss system employs a self-bracing method of interlocking diamond shapes, which is supported only at the junction of the roof and walls. The ballroom opened with much fanfare in July 1933. As many as a thousand dancing couples whirled the night away in a space with no posts to offer obstructions. The ballroom has splendid acoustical qualities. The Keller Brothers, local musicians and impresarios, owned the hall until they sold it in 1940. Musical acts such as Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Count Basie, and later Johnny Cash and the Buffalo Springfield played here, and it continues as a concert venue.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Tufts Mansion (Mahar-Bruley-Dewhurst House)
Clark County Jail
WCCN Radio Station (Wisconsin Pavilion)

Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Silver Dome Ballroom", [Neillsville, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-CL4.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 402-403.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,