Elmira Photo of the Month

Eldridge Park Dance Hall
circa mid-Nineties - Elmira, NY

ome will remember this building. For many years, it was the center of activity at Eldridge Park. During the Thirties and Forties it featured many of the big bands that would come to the Elmira vicinity to entertain. Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Grey and his Casa Loma Orchestra - they'd be at Rorick's Glen one week-end and then return a few weeks later to jam and swing at Eldridge's Dance Hall.

Eldridge Park, as many Elmirans will remember it during most of its wonderful existence during the 20th century, closed its doors in 1989. The dance hall, the amusement park, the picnic grounds, and eventually the very knoll where the dance hall was located, disappeared.

But before it was torn down, Bob Price of Horseheads took this photo of the dance hall, literally just a couple of days before demolition. We've run a few photos of the old landmark previously here at SHS58.org, but none of as good a quality as this one. Thanks to Bob for his trouble in locating the photo in his archives and sharing it with us online.