After 103 years, one of Ellinwood’s iconic buildings was demolished.

Due to its deteriorated condition, Maennerchor Hall was beyond repair. Therefore, the local owners, Ron and Connie Potts, decided to have the old building, located on East B Street, bulldozed on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

"We replaced the roof three times already," Connie Potts said. "We just couldn’t see doing it again."

But, it was a very hard decision for them to make. "I’ll always remember it because I grew up in the little house north of it," Potts said.

The Potts owned the property since May of 1980 when they purchased it from Mabel Southern.

The history of Maennerchor is fascinating as well as colorful. Generations have passed the folklore, and many of the blissful memories created there have been recorded over the years.

Maennerchor, meaning men’s chorus in German, was organized in 1899 with nine charter members. There were about 30 members in the original chorus, singing every Sunday afternoon.

The chorus built a good reputation. And, the performances built a reputation of being a good time with good singing and good German beer. Although not all were of German descent, the membership numbered 300 to 400 in its heyday.

For awhile the men met in a small building just south of the railroad tracks. The history of the hall varies on who one talks to, but below is a general timeline.

1908 – Maennerchor Hall was built for all of society to use. In the beginning, it was primarily used for the Maennerchor’s singing and beer drinking, card playing, monthly birthday parties, dances and social gatherings of secret societies. Beers were six for 25 cents, paid for with chips.

1910 – The Kansas bone-dry law went into effect meaning no beer could be shipped in or out. Ellinwood paid no attention to such silliness. Maennerchor still met and had their beer, "after all, you can’t sing without your beer," Wolf Brewery founder Fred Wolf is quoted as saying. But the brewery faced extinction.

1913-1915 – Prohibition came and a squad was sent to Ellinwood to arrest of the officers of the club and charge them with illegally selling intoxicating beverages. Shortly after, the club broke up. But also, it is mentioned that the end came as many of the old men were dying and the younger ones didn’t keep up the tradition. Also, the U.S. was fighting Germany, and many of the German ancestry were looked on as suspicious in more places than just Ellinwood.

1912 – The 10th-annual masquerade ball was held.

1916 – The building and property was sold to the Bock family.

1924 – William and Lorrin Bock inherited the building. Bill Bock and Bill Southern of Ellinwood teamed to turn the hall into one of the finest places for dancing and listening to the big bands in this part of the country.

1924 – The Hall was used for a skating rink. Boch and Southern bought 50 pairs of roller skates and found out they needed twice that many on opening night.

1925-1940s – As stories go, two of the big bands mentioned were Lawrence Welk and King Oliver. Years back when researching the Maennerchor for a paper he was writing, retired Ellinwood history teacher Larry Drees conducted an interview with Martin Glenn, retired editor of the Ellinwood Leader. Drees also spoke with Bill Southern’s two sons, Bill and Bob. It came to light the bands that played in Ellinwood traveled by train and were on the Chicago to Dallas. This gave the bands an extra gig and most Ellinwood dances were held on Friday and Sunday nights. No alcoholic beverages were allowed in the hall. There were Cokes and 7-Up for 5 cents sold out of horse tanks.

During this time, a stage was added. The hall itself was dance floor with benches around the outside edge. There were two smaller rooms, one for coats the other for tickets. In Drees’ research of Ellinwood Leaders in the 1930s and 40s, the announcements were for mixed dances Friday nights with tickets costing 50 cents, tax included. The Sunday night dances were special and had a big advertisement.

1929 – Local Yvonne (McCollough) Brenn remembers the dances, saying she and her friends would walk to the them. She recalled the hula girls that were painted on the walls just like they did for the movies. Ellinwood had the first movie theater. Brenn loved the live music.

"Froggie Koelsh was in his 60s at the time, and us girls were sitting in the booths along the wall," she said. "That was when men were gentlemen, and they asked to a lady to dance. Froggie asked me to dance and then walked me back to the bench. I just thought that was so neat," Brenn said.

1932 – Carl Maybach, former chorus director for Paramount Pictures, gave lessons in ball room dancing for a quarter.

1937 – In the early 1930s, a group of people who wanted to set up a place of worship purchased the building. Two years later, due to finances, they had to sell.

World War II appeared to mark changes of fortune for Maennerchor Hall. The manager was getting older and growing tired of running the hall for 25 years. Other clubs began to open and hold dances and places where one could drink. Among these were the V.F.W, Heinz Pavillion and the Crescent Club. This was the end of Maennerchor as a dance hall.

1950-1976 – Maennerchor Hall became storage for the furniture store in town. It then stood empty for four years. The high school also used it as a basketball court until one was constructed.

1980 – Ron and Connie Potts purchased the property from Mabel Southern May 1. Although speculation quickly traveled they were to make a bar out of the place, the Potts really had no plans, only to keep the building standing. Later after the legal papers were finalized, the attorney shared the grandfather clause stating it was zoned for commercial use and if they desired to open a bar, they could.

The years went by, and the Potts began renting out space within the building. This caused the backbreaking job of cleaning out the building so it could be razed.

After many hours of hard labor and help of a friend by the name of Karen Snay, the building was finally emptied and ready for the demolition. Eight dumpster loads later, Mike Moore of Consolidated Trash in Great Bend and Dakota Dirt of Great Bend teamed up for the project.

"I appreciate the opportunity to do the job for the Potts, and in a way be part of the history of Ellinwood," Moore said.

Legend has it that there was a tunnel from the hall to the old depot, but there is no evidence of this. Connie did say there was an archway in the corner of the partial basement that was completely bricked in.