Happ Auditorium
The Happ Auditorium was a dance venue with an ever-changing name and place, according to ads. It was owned by Adam J. Happ.
The Chaska History Center says that this was the former Schnitzelbank club building, moved from up by Guardian Angels cemetery to 5th Street and Chestnut Street.
Undated photo courtesy Chaska History Center
HAPP AUDITORIUM
Although I have yet to find out when this building opened, the Chaska History Center has provided several items from the local paper that give us a glimpse into how the building was used, starting in 1924:
February 14, 1924:
The local Peptinos girls basketball team took on the fast Hook-Em-Cow girls Sunday afternoon at the Happ Auditorium and lost out by a score of 12 to 0. The South St. Paul girls were larger and stronger and the team work of the girls was a revelation. That’s where our girls fell down and from now on they should try and develop team work.
November 20, 1924:
The Happ Auditorium will be the scene of another great “Battle of Music” next Sunday evening, Nov. 23rd when the famous Al Olson’s Syncopators of Albert Lea and Dean’s Serenaders of Cresco, Iowa, play on the same floor at the same time. Manager, Dick Happ is making great preparations for this event and expects to entertain a record breaking crowd of dancers.
April 2, 1925:
The roller skating rink at the Happ Auditorium has been drawing record crowds right along. A race was the feature on Tuesday evening, being between a Mr. Casey of Jordan and a Mr. Murphy of Excelsior. Murphy won and he was immediately challenged by Walter Roy, one of our fast boys, and these speed sharks will get together at the rink this (Thursday) evening at 9:15. This should be a hot race and another big crowd is looked for.
January 14, 1926:
The famous Hurst’s Club Royal Orchestra will furnish the music for the January Dance Jubilee at the Happ Auditorium next Sunday evening. Manager Happ is making elaborate preparations for this event. Lunch and refreshments will be served in the auditorium café. A cordial invitation is extended one and all.
March 4, 1926:
Fred Charles, of St. Louis, Mo., fancy skater, will appear at the Happ Auditorium next Saturday evening giving an exhibition of fancy skating. Admission price will be 15 cents.
February 3, 1927:
The famous Brandt’s Hot Points orchestra of Wells, Minn., well-known through out the entire Northwest, have been engaged by Manager Dick Happ of the Happ Auditorium to furnish the musical program for the big dance next Sunday evening February 6th.
The first we find of the Happ Auditorium in the Minneapolis papers is a small notice placed in the Minneapolis Tribune‘s Public Announcements Section, under Amusement, on November 16, 1927. In full, it reads:
VERY SPECIAL ATTRACTION. THE BIG HIT OF THE NORTHWEST. Dance at the Happ auditorium, Chaska, Minnesota. On high. No. 12, Sunday, Nov. 20, BUICK GOLD SEAL VAGABONDS, 12 radio artists, exclusive featuring Buick master tenor. Always a crowd at Chaska, excellent floor management and good treatment at all times. Dance every Sunday. Good orchestras. Adam J. Happ, Prop.
In 1928, the Minnetonka Record advertised a dance on February 12, 1928, with music by Cliff Moody and his Minneapolis Ballroom Orchestra. $25 cash prizes were to be awarded to the town that was best represented in number at the dance.
Every surrounding town is included in this contest and as you enter you register and give the name of the town you represent. Get the Gang together, elect your officers, and make this drive your prize.
There was also an Auditorium Cafe with plate lunches for 25 cents.
March 8, 1928:
The Happ Auditorium, which is now being used for roller skating and basketball, has a fine new $550 Brunswick Panatrope, purchased by the Burkhart Furniture Store and installed last week. From a musical standpoint one of the greatest inventions ever made in the phonograph or reproducing line.
March 29, 1928:
Basketball game on roller skates at the Happ Auditorium, Sunday, April 1st, Chaska vs. Excelsior. Don’t miss this game on skates. This is something new and novel and should create lots of fun and entertainment.
The season for the Auditorium was apparently September to May.
In the fall of 1928, the Hennepin County Enterprise published and ad announcing that the Grand Fall Opening Dance at Happ Auditorium would take place on September 30, 1928, with music by the Radisson Hotel Flame Room Orchestra of Minneapolis – 12 musicians and a first class recording band.
Also this year we will again sell season tickets, good from date of purchas to May for the sum of $10. Only a limited amount will be sold so get yours at once and don’t be disappointed.
All new decorations will again be placed in the auditorium, and nothing will be spared to make Chaska one of the finest dance towns throughout the country.
Special lunches will be served in the auditorium cafe and we will carry a first class line in everything.
Do remember the AUDITORIUM has been closed all summer and Mr. Happ will expect a fine attendance at his grand opening.
On October 4, 1928, the Hennepin County Enterprise reported that over 50 people from Hopkins had attended the opening dance advertised above.
Subsequent bands to play at the ballroom were:
- Al Menke and his gang, Fairmont, eight men
- Alexander and His Ragtime Band, Spaulding Hotel, St. Paul, eight men, marathon dance
- Hunt’s Gold Draggets of Albert Lea, eight men
- Grant Moor and His New Orleans Black Devils’ Wigwam Band, ten men
September 19, 1929:
The grand opening of the Happ Auditorium for the coming season will take place Saturday and Sunday, September 21st and 22nd. Music will be performed by two of the hottest bands on the road: Tiny Little and his Toe Teasers of Galveston, Texas and “Cec” and his Mormon Shieks of Mankato.
Oct. 24, 1929:
Dance lovers and patrons of the Happ Auditorium who enjoy dancing to the musical strains of Tiny Little and his Toe Teasers, of Texas, will have one more opportunity to glide the floor of this organization. Manager Happ has been successful in securing it for the big dance next Saturday evening, Oct. 25. Tiny Little and his orchestra will leave after completing their engagement here for Milwaukee.
April 24, 1930:
A wet mass meeting will be held in Happ’s Auditorium on Thursday evening, April 25th at 8 o’clock under the auspices of the Constitutional Defense Alliance. The principal speaker will be Dan E. Richter, well known as the orator to the people of the northwest. From his reputation as a brilliant speaker, the Constitutional Defense Alliance promises the people of this city and vicinity a rare treat and no one should miss hearing his arguments against prohibition. Ladies are especially invited.
A dance was advertised in the Minnetonka Record for Sunday, November 8, 1931, with music by the Tiny Little Orchestra of Galveston, Texas.
New Ford Coach given away free Nov. 26. Tune in on Station WDGY every Saturday evening between 5:30 and 6:00 o’clock and get your free dance tickets.
November 20, 1930:
Don’t miss the Thanksgiving dance to be held on Wednesday night, November 26th at Happ’s auditorium. Music will be furnished by John Wilfhart and his Nine Fat Dutchmen, featuring old and new music. Turkeys will be given to those holding the lucky numbers. Come and dance and take home your Thanksgiving dinner FREE.
EXCITEMENT AT HAPP’S
It was a real 1930s gangster story going on at Happ’s on Saturday night, November 2, 1935, except that these gangsters “Shot off their mouths,” as the headline read, and were nipped in the bud. Seems two small town Iowa “tough guys” who had just been paroled from a reformatory landed at Happ’s and were drinking and talking and bragging about their kidnapping of a couple of men. Next they were planning to “take the Twin Cities night clubs apart,” but they needed someone who knew the area to help them, so they tried to recruit a local Chaska man.
Meanwhile Mrs. Augusta Happ was on duty and she could see that the men were armed and were sticking around after the other customers left. The local man slipped up to her and warned her of the plans of the two punks, and she called the Sheriff. One miscreant was captured while chatting up a waitress, and the other was driving around in a stolen car and picked up without incident when he returned. They admitted later, “while lodged in the county jail,” that they had planned to shoot their way out if their was any trouble. They were taken back to Iowa to face charges there. The story (Minneapolis Tribune, November 5, 1935) came with pictures of the kidnap victims, the lousy criminals, and the one below, of Mrs. Happ (re-enacting her call to the Sheriff) and her husband Adam.
Minneapolis Tribune, November 5, 1935
HAPP’S NITE CLUB
Ads started showing up for dances here in the Minneapolis Spokesman in July 1936. The Spokesman was and is a weekly newspaper for the City’s black community. The first found was for July 26, 1936, advertised as a Cabaret Dance sponsored by the Twentieth Century Club. The venue was described as Happ’s Nite Club, and the entertainment was Ray Dysart’s Swing Band, with a Floor Show. The Sunday night dance started at 10 pm.
The ad below doesn’t mention the name of the venue (or perhaps I cut it off), but it gives great directions on how to get there. I never did find an address.
Minneapolis Spokesman, 1936
This was the first ad that gave the city’s name as Shakopee instead of Chaska.
Minneapolis Spokesman, 1936
On November 8, 1936, the Spokesman advertised an Iowa-Minnesota Homecoming Party at Happ’s Nite Club, with music by Ray Dysart and His Swinging Gents. The Party started at 10 pm on a Sunday night and featured favors and a floor show. The address given was Highway 169 in Shakopee.
On Sunday, October 3, 1937, a Breakfast Dance was planned, featuring Red Perkins and His Original Dixie Ramblers, Direct from Omaha. It was called the biggest dance and musical treat of the season, a jam-fest, that included all the local bands, including the popular Ray Dysart and His Swinging Gents. This time the venue was back to being called Happ’s Auditorium, in Shakopee. Dancing was from 11 pm to 5 am. (Minneapolis Spokesman, October 1, 1937)
DOWNFALL OF HAPP’S
On October 18, 1939, this ad was placed in the Minneapolis Tribune:
FOR SALE or lease, Happ auditorium in Chaska, 66 x 112, fully equipped, ideal for many uses, also full basement. Call or write Adam & (sic) Happ, Chaska, or contact Breezy Point Club, mile n of Shakopee.
In 1940, whether as a matter of principle or in a feud with the neighboring Valley Auditorium in Chaska, Happ signed a complaint that the Valley was keeping gambling devices on its premises. Five slot machines were found in a raid at the Valley on September 24, 1940. (Minneapolis Star, October 6, 1940)
FIRE
On Thursday, September 26, 1940, an explosion that shook buildings more than a block away destroyed the Happ Auditorium, described as at the edge of the Chaska business district. The subsequent fire razed the building, and it took Chaska and Carver firemen more than three hours to bring the flames under control. Damage was estimated at $17,000. The explosion was believed to have occurred on the ground floor where four new bowling alleys were to open on Friday. It happened at 5:20 am, just as Chief of Police Joseph Ohnsorg was driving past the two-story building.
Doors flew off their hinges and windows were shattered. Startled townspeople swarmed to the scene. The building was still owned by Adam Happ. The story was on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Journal, September 26, 1940.
The charred ruins of the Auditorium sat in situ for eight years until plans were made for a bowling alley.