The Arched Virginia Gardens Sign

When I was still working on the book in the summer of 2009, I asked my dad about the arched Virginia Gardens ballroom sign that used to be displayed in the memorial park on the corner of Carolina Avenue and Sixth Street. At that time he thought it was still there, but it had just recently been removed due to deterioration. All that remained were two steel pipes which used to hold it place. On a return trip to Chester to meet Doug Arner at Arner’s Funeral Home, I learned that a new sign was being constructed for the gazebo, and by that fall, the sign had been hung above the entrance to the gazebo and everything had been freshly painted. The empty paint cans were still stacked next to the fence. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, bottom p. 122) No one seems to know what happened to the original sign, however.

As the article below (Sent in by alert reader and Newell historian Mark Gonzalez) explains, the memorial park was the result of the efforts of the Chester Planning Commission to create a tribute park to Rock Springs.

Originally lumber was used to support the 3-piece arched sign. More recently, it was bolted to pipes facing Carolina Avenue. (Courtesy of Mark Gonzalez, from the April 19, 1983 issue of The Panhandle Press)

The park was dedicated and the first annual Rock Springs Festival was held starting on July 25, 1983.

The East Liverpool Evening Review reported on Saturday, July 23, 1983, “Memories of a colorful bit of local history will be recalled anew this week, as Chester area residents prepare for the first Rock Springs Park festival. Dedication ceremonies are planned Monday evening for the Rock Springs Memorial Park, a small section of fenced land at Carolina Ave. and Sixth St. where the City Planning Commission hopes to locate a permanent museum for park memorabilia. The ceremonies which will feature the first ‘Miss Virginia Gardens,’ Lori Theiss, and her court, are to be part of a four-day celebration.”

There was also a plan to build a small cement block structure to serve as a museum in the park . “Planning Commission member Anne Ford said the commission may consider a 'buy a block' program to help with funding.” The city also applied for funds under the Governor’s Emergency Employment Program to build the structure, but it never came to fruition.

Planners intended the festival to become an annual event and it did continue for several years but ended in the late 80s.

Dancing in the Park

One of the comments I received after the first two of my book talks, was that older people who remember the park wished to see and hear more about dancing, especially with regards to the beautiful ballroom, "Virginia Gardens". Included in this blog post are some of the facts and images I plan to add to my next event in order to boost the conversation about dance platforms and halls enjoyed by park guests in the nearly 117 year history of the area known as Rock Springs.

This image from the very early years shows an outdoor covered dancing platform at the end of a tree-lined path used before any dance halls were constructed. According to Roy C. Cashdollar, the very first structure built on the site of Rock Springs Grove was “a sixteen foot square platform used for dancing.” (Courtesy of Richard L. Bowker)

The original dance hall in Rock Springs Park faced Carolina Avenue. Before the trolley loop lower entrance was added during C.A. Smith’s years, people would get off the street car and go right up the steps into the dance hall. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, p. 15) This side view of the original dance hall, constructed in 1897 by J.E. MacDonald was removed from the Images book in place of one from Doug Arner and Arner Funeral Chapel. Also a side view, Arner’s photograph (p. 16 top) shows pleasure-seekers filling the awning covered porch and walking the grounds. (Courtesy of Richard L. Bowker)

The second floor of the Casino Dance Hall (1906) had an 18,000 square foot hard white maple dance floor, which was larger than 4 high school-size basketball courts put together. Not only did people dance in the dance halls in the evening, but they also danced aboard steamships which carried them from Wheeling and Pittsburgh. (See a series of photographs of the Homer Smith in my book, pp. 56-57)

The Virginia Gardens Dance Hall (1927 – 1974) was used for proms and school dances, as well as, for skating. This article from Youngstown Vindicator – Jul 28, 1957, tells of the Golden Jubilee of Chester Celebration held in Virginia Gardens. (See p. 71 of my book for a photograph of the Jubilee Court)



In his History of Chester: The Gateway to the West (Part II), Roy C. Cashdollar notes some of the rules for couples dancing the tango in 1914: Do not, (1) wiggle shoulders, (2) shake hips, (3) twist the body, (4) hop, (5) flounce elbows, or (6) clasp your partner in a death grip.

(What? No "hopping?" Look out Easter Bunny!)

Rudy Bundy and His Orchestra at Rock Springs 1936

The Daily Times, Beaver, PA, August 5, 1936 - Rudy Bundy and his Orchestra will be this week’s feature attraction at Rock Springs Park, Chester, Wa. Appearing in Virginia Gardens Ballroom Thursday night. Bundy, who is said to be one of America’s foremost saxophone and clarinet artists is bringing his orchestra to the Chester ballroom direct from six week’s engagement at the Dells, near Chicago.

Radio fans in the district will remember Bundy, due to his many broadcasts on WLW, “the nation’s station,” while he and the orchestra were playing an engagement at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati.

Give yourself a treat and listen to Rudy and his Orchestra playing "Mr. Sizzling Man" (1937). It's a lively number!