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"Around 1900, the pavilion was built on Orchard Island, located on Indian Lake in Ohio. The pavilion was originally built for the Chautauqua Indians. The structure was built as a shelter house for them to hold their meetings, conventions, and other gathering events. At one time, the Chautauqua conventions held on Orchard Island were the best-attended outside of Chautauqua, New York.
(NBHA note - The quote above mentions that this was built for Chautauqua Indians but this is most likely not accurate. It's most likely meant to be Chautauqua Assemblies as referenced in the 2nd paragraph of this link http://www.indianlakearea.com/history/.)
Sometime around 1923, the property was purchased by Alexander R. Tarr. He purchased the property as an investment and intended to use the pavilion to attract the people visiting the lake. The pavilion was used for outdoor dances, and the Bob Royce Orchestra regularly played music at the dances. This pavilion was quite the place for people in the surrounding area to go and enjoy an evening on Orchard Island. Weddings, parties, and entertainment of all sorts took place in the pavilion. A hotel was also built next to the pavilion to give people a place to stay for the night.
In 1927 Alexander Tarr sold the property for $350,000 to an Ohio corporation. They intended to make the island a great convention center, similar to when the Chautauqua Indians saw it as the lake’s spotlight. The open pavilion was then enclosed with walls to accommodate conventions and events all year round. The old wood floor that had always been in the pavilion was re-covered with new wood to accommodate roller skating. The enclosed pavilion became the premier place to go to roller skate. Roller skating became the main use for the pavilion. One of the most interesting things about the pavilion was the neon lights installed on the bottom side of each main truss and across the intermediate steel trusses. Once roller skating died out as a recreational sport, the pavilion was not used for anything else. The property owner did not want to upkeep the buildings or the property.
For decades, the buildings on the property sat rusting and rotting away. The pavilion was condemned and became the local dumping ground. People would throw their junk inside the building to not pay to have it hauled to a legal landfill. Sometime around the year 2000, the James F. Dicke Family purchased the property. The Dicke family had the hotel knocked down, and the property cleaned up. The local people were never so happy to see the area being cleaned up finally.
A preliminary cost estimate was put together for the project in June 2002. By July of 2003, the project was a go.
The steel structure was brought in and erected 30 miles away in New Bremen, just as it was on Orchard Island.
It’s not every day you get to take a piece of history like this and make it into something very special and useful, useful enough the entire community gets to use the over 100-year-old structure. In addition, the structure is an epicenter of entertainment and gatherings of family and friends in New Bremen, Ohio."
Information from HA Dorsten - https://hadorsteninc.com/project/crown-pavilion/
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