ByKathryn Summers
HYRUM -- On the corner of First West and Main stands a blue building. The paint is peeling a little, but the Elite Hall is still an impressive looking structure, with an even more impressive past.

After the Hyrum Opera House burned to the ground in 1915, the community wanted a place to hold dances and other activities, so Elite Hall was built in 1917. The building measures 70 feet by 122 feet outside, according to a book by Allen Brown Eliason called Home in the Hills of Bridger Land. The building has a dance floor on springs, which made it an exciting place to go dancing.

"Large crowds packed the Elite Hall every Saturday night to enjoy the popular dances of that period of time," wrote Eliason of the hall's glory days in the early part of the century.

Basketball teams played games there. In a championship game between Rexburg and Lehi, the Idaho and Utah state champions, 444 tickets were sold. At the dance after the game, three orchestras were booked so the music never had to stop, according to Eliason's book.

"The Hyrum Dance Pavilion has won for itself the name of being the best Dance Hall in the State of Utah. The merry crowds that gather there every week coming form far and near give evidence to that fact," proclaims a display in the Hyrum Museum.

But eventually the crowds decreased and the dances became unprofitable. For a time the hall saw use as a roller skating rink. Then on Sept. 12, 1934, the city of Hyrum bought the building.

Today the once-famous dance hall is a lot quieter. The crowds don't come as frequently, and they aren't as large.

Luane Larsen has been the custodian of Elite Hall for the last 10 years, since he retired from Hill Air Force Base.

"You meet a lot of people -- good people, strange people," Larsen said.

Dance classes are held in the building throughout the week. During the school months, weekly dances are held on Saturday nights starting in October, said Fran Bair, secretary in the city office. The building can be rented out by clubs or families for parties, dances, or other occasions.

"When they let the people in I get away from there or they make me move tables and all that," Larsen said with a smile.

Larsen remembers his mother going to club meetings in the rooms upstairs. The rooms get very hot and the bricks hold the heat all night, he says, and there is no air conditioning to cool the building. Some insulation was put in the roof which helps some, but it's still too hot in the summer, so the building isn't used much then.

The building needs to be repainted inside. There's lead in the paint, which is unsafe. Larsen said the city is required to strip the paint off down to the bricks and repaint. He called the project a "political football" that will get done when the city has the money.

About 16 feet above the dance floor, a balcony runs around the perimeter of the building. Larsen said they have to keep people off the balcony now because they don't have the right insurance. He remembers "hanging right over those rails" that have always been the same gold color to watch boxing and wrestling below. "They've had everything you can think of in here," he said.

The older folks like Elite Hall because it holds lots of good memories for them, said Hyrum resident Thomas LaBau. But he said the building doesn't mean as much to younger kids. They would like a bigger, better building.

At night the neon blue cursive letters that say "Elite Hall" shine bravely into an unknown future. Whatever may happen to the old building in the future can't dim the majesty of its past.

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