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SCHUYLER — This month, Schuyler residents got a fresh look at a familiar local landmark.
The first priority for renovations at the Oak Ballroom was the removal of the booths and flooring. The booths, which many visitors associate with the building, are not original. Their removal allows for up to 570 people in the building and opens up the area by the fireplace for parties, weddings and quinceañeras.
Two rows of remaining booths were removed around the perimeter of the Oak Ballroom to make more room for events.
The flooring was bordering on 50 years old, according to City Administrator Will De Roos, well past the 20-year lifespan attributed to gymnasium or dance hall floors.
Among cosmetic changes made, strings of Edison bulbs were draped along the support ties crisscrossing the ceiling, the stage was painted and the bathrooms were gutted and redone.
The legendary ballroom on the south side of town was designed by Nebraska native Emiel Christensen. Construction began in 1937 using oak trees from the Platte River and stone from the local Wells, Abbott, Neiman Mill.
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At its 1939 opening, attendees were treated to a performance by Lawrence Welk and his orchestra. Welk later praised the building’s regality and its significance in his band’s history in what he described as a “lean time” for them.
In 1983 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its local interpretation of English Tudor Revival architecture. Its exposed oak timbers, white-panel walls and barn-like trusses make it unique in eastern Nebraska.
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The building resulted from the Works Progress Administration, an initiative by President Franklin Roosevelt to both build infrastructure and create jobs in the late ’30s.
Since then, it has hosted many events, and created many memories.
The exterior of the historic Oak Ballroom in Schuyler.
“There’s been dances, Christmas parties … Cargill, I worked for them for 22 years, went to every Christmas party here, all the dances I went to here,” said Greg Hajek, whose father was one of the men employed to help build the ballroom.
The building’s historical significance is amplified by its location, with the entrance near the Mormon Trail, a prominent historical feature in Nebraska. The mural by Jim Ridgeway above the fireplace commemorates that with a gold-leaf impression of a covered wagon crossing the prairie.
Jim Mejstrik, whose father was manager at the ballroom for years, recalled when he had to cover for his father while he dealt with a family matter.
“The band was horrible,” Mejstrik recalled. “I had to unplug their equipment.”
The final pieces of the renovation — custom trim and painting the stage’s acoustic tiles — have yet to be completed but the ballroom is functional.
Manager Daniele Baete-Kozisek said the venue is booked on weekends for the foreseeable future.
Photos: National landmarks of Nebraska
Don Parmenter, left, of Gering and Casey Debus of Morrill wait momentarily at Scotts Bluff National Monument while the mochila transfers horses. In 2008, the two riders participated in a Pony Express re-ride that began in Sacramento, California, and concluded in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The Willow Island Pony Express station sits in a city park in Cozad, Neb. First used as a trading post, the station also served as a stage coach stop for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. The cabin was originally built on a bank of the Platte River, south of present-day Darr, Neb., and was moved here in 1938.
Markers south of exit 231 on Interstate 80, between Lexington and Cozad, designate the nearby sites of the Willow Island Pony Express station, left, and the Oregon Trail.
Trail riders move down the Oregon Trail at Ash Hollow State Historical Park during the Convergence on Sacred Ground event in 2017. In full, the Oregon Trail spanned over 2,000 miles and crossed six states, in which trail landmarks, settlements, wagon ruts and other traces can still be seen today.
The Oregon Trail Wagon Train passes over a bed of white “plains bee balm” on the first day of a four-day trek. Once a popular tourist attraction, participants were able to experience a little of what the pioneer journey over the prairie near Chimney Rock was like.
For both Native American tribes and pioneers traveling westward, Chimney Rock, now a National Historic Site near Bayard, was the first of two important markers along the Oregon, Mormon, and California trails in the Nebraska Panhandle. The unique geological formation, along with the landmark at Scotts Bluff National Monument, less than thirty miles away, appears mentioned in the writings of many early settlers.
Evening light and rolling storm clouds create a scenic backdrop for the prairie landscape at Scotts Bluff National Monument. The monument marks its 100th anniversary this year.
Max Cawiezel operates an antique John Deere sugar beet digger with the help of Belgian horses Bob and Ben at the Farm and Ranch Museum near Gering, Neb. Historical equipment and farming techniques were a part of the museum’s eighth annual Harvest Festival in 2004.
The Homestead Act of 1862 offered incentive, in the form of 160 acres of free land, to pioneers moving westward. Homestead National Monument commemorates this historic event, housing an extensive collection of homesteading artifacts and offering interactive exhibits documenting the lives of early settlers. On display here is a 1945 Allis Chalmers Model C tractor, used in Alaska on the nation’s last homestead.
In August 2017, a rare total solar eclipse crossed a wide swath of Nebraska, bringing with it record amounts of tourism to small towns and state parks along the path. Bruce Cardwell, center, of Omaha, Nebraska, waits for the eclipse to reappear from behind the clouds. Homestead National Monument hosted a viewing party for the eclipse, inviting NASA scientists and featuring programs led by celebrity guest Bill Nye.
The sky over the Homestead National Monument’s Homestead Heritage Center is illuminated by a lunar eclipse on Jan. 31, 2018, as seen through the window of the center. Open prairie and clear skies have made the site popular for star viewing and storytelling, as well as daytime astronomy programs.
The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail traces the path of early Mormon settlers from Illinois, through Iowa and Nebraska, towards Wyoming and Utah. Two notable encampment areas — Winter Quarters in north Omaha and Kanesville in Council Bluffs — served as vital stops along the way.
Amber Lutke, left, and Russ Leger lead a wagon train on Pioneer Trail heading to for the Grand Encampment at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs. The event marked the 170th anniversary since the Mormons left Nauvoo, Illinois, to camp in what are now Council Bluffs and north Omaha.
Dave McKeag, trail boss and wagonmaster from Council Bluffs, prepares to lead the 150th anniversary Gold Rush Days wagon trail ride to California. The ride started from the Western Historic Trail Center in Council Bluffs, and included a stop overnight in Omaha.
The Missouri River, as seen from the Chief Standing Bear Bridge connecting Nebraska and South Dakota, near Niobrara on the Lewis & Clark trail. Two segments of the river, totaling just over one hundred miles, make up the Missouri National Recreational River.
The Lewis and Clark replica keelboat of The Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Missouri, pushes up the Missouri River across from downtown Omaha. As part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, reenactors followed the original route of the expedition up the river, stopping at several cities along the way.
Rapids attract visitors to the Niobrara River’s Rocky Ford area. Only a fraction of segments of rivers in the United States are able to be designated under the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System – the 76-mile stretch near Valentine qualifies by being a free-flowing segment with accessible undeveloped shoreline and clean or managed water. Rocky Ford, a popular take-out site for canoes and float trips, is privately owned, but past negotiations have considered turning it over to the federal government to ensure continued public access.
Members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wildlife Club take canoes and kayaks out on the Niobrara River.
The Niobrara National Scenic River is also home to nationally and regionally significant geology, fossil sites and wildlife. Diverse species of plants and animals, including elk, can be found at the Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
This bock of fossils was collected from the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and is housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It contains bones from several different groups of animals, including chalicotheres, giant pigs, oreodonts, cats and dogs. Most of the bones, however, are from Menoceras, a pony-sized rhinoceros.
Sunset shadows at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.