History
Founded in 1921 by John Verderbar, an industrious Austrian immigrant. Verderbar purchased 5 acres (20,000 m2) along wooded Archer Ave. He planned to build a peaceful weekend home.
His son, Rudy Verderbar, was one of the throngs of young people who danced at the nearly 400 ballrooms and dance halls that thrived in the Chicago area during the mid-to-late 1910s. After dancing in an outdoor pavilion in Michigan, Rudy waged a relentless campaign to scrap the idea of a summer home and build an outdoor dance pavilion. After some research, his father agreed, and in 1921, the all wooden Oh Henry Park was built. It proved so popular, in 1923, the open-air pavilion was enlarged and a new 10-cents-a-dance policy was implemented. The ballroom was supposedly named after the Oh Henry candy bar, manufactured in Chicago by the Williamson Candy Company, who paid Verderbar for the naming rights.
In 1930, the pavilion was destroyed in a devastating fire. Verderbar quickly assembled a team of 200 carpenters to construct an enormous outdoor dance floor in time for the next Saturday night. The remaining ten weeks of Oh Henry’s 1930 dance season drew even bigger crowds due to massive publicity touting the romantic aspects of "dancing under the stars."
On May 3, 1931, more than 1,700 invited guests and dignitaries danced the first dances in the new Oh Henry Ballroom. It had been built at the then-staggering Great Depression-era cost of $100,000.
As Big Band fever spread throughout 1940s America, the Oh Henry Ballroom, now with air conditioning, became a major force in the Midwest’s entertainment industry. Even during the Second World War, typical weekly attendance was about 10,000 dancers. The ballroom’s popularity was reason for Chicago bus lines to be rerouted to provide direct service to and from the ballroom.
Willowbrook Ballroom attracted the best bands of their times including Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra in the 1930s with lead singer Harriet Hilliard. The 1940s orchestras of Harry James and Count Basie played the ballroom, and singer Helen O'Connell graced the stage, later so did Wayne King, Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, Dick Jurgens, Glenn Miller Orchestra and Harry James.
In 1955, as ballrooms across the country scaled down or closed, the Verderbars set out on a course to further expand their operations. A 20,000-foot (6,100 m) addition installed new kitchens, a restaurant and a private room for parties and banquets.
In 1959 the entire Oh Henry complex was renamed Willowbrook Ballroom. The 1960s were bringing record crowds to the ballroom, but toward the end of that decade, the public’s taste in entertainment underwent a radical change and fewer people took up ballroom dancing.
Willowbrook Ballroom survived by having contemporary bands share the stage on the same evening with the top ballroom bands. Sunday afternoon Tea Dancing began and is ongoing to this day.
As popular music changed, the entertainers on Willowbrook’s stage also changed, particularly on Friday night. Chubby Checker played the ballroom as did The Cryan' Shames, The Association, The Buckinghams, Otis Day and the Knights, The Village People, and Martha Reeves.
In 1997 the Verderbar family sold the Ballroom to Birute and Gediminas Jodwalis. The Willowbrook Ballroom is located at 8900 Archer Avenue, Willow Springs, Illinois, 60480.
In 2000 The Willowbrook Ballroom was profiled as one of America's "Glorious, Historic, Legendary, Treasured Ballroom Dance Floors" in Amateur Dancers magazine. Criteria for being profiled as an Amateur Dancers magazine's "Finest Floor" is:
- A minimum of 3,500 square feet (330 m2) of danceable wood flooring, sprung preferred.
- Sufficient room for 300 or more dancers.
- Adequate sound and heating/cooling system.
- Currently operating with a 25 year history or more.
Read more about this topic: Willowbrook Ballroom
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