By Jennifer Crooks
Through the years, music has always been important in Thurston County. While many have participated in community and private musical organizations, even more County inhabitants have enjoyed listening to music. From John Philip Sousa to Gordon Lightfoot, residents have been lucky in getting nationally famous musicians to play in the area. This local interest in music would help bring famed musician Louis Armstrong to the Evergreen Ballroom in 1944, the middle of World War II.
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), a trumpet player and singer, is considered one of the most important jazz artists of all time. Armstrong, with his innovative style, talented improvisations, and an easily recognizable gravelly voice, has had a lasting impression on American music. He and his band performed many songs. Major hits included “What a Wonderful World,” “Hello Dolly,” “Potato Head Blues,” “Heebie Jeebies,” “All of Me,” and “Mack the Knife.” During his long career Armstrong performed music in many movies (such as “Hello Dolly”), recorded numerous records and gave countless concerts all around the world, including one in Thurston County on July 22, 1944.
Armstrong performed at the Evergreen Ballroom, which was located at 9131 Pacific Avenue near Lacey. Being situated close to Olympia and twenty miles south of Tacoma along Highway 99 (as Pacific Avenue was then called) made the Evergreen Ballroom a popular destination for people of the region. The “Green,” as many locals nicknamed it, was first built in 1931. The owners, husband and wife Walter (1889-1946) and Mary C. (Bolan) Sholund (1895-1970), had the building constructed as a barn-style roadhouse. It was part of the “kerosene circuit,” a series of highway roadhouse entertainment centers, thus named because they often lacked electricity and were lighted by kerosene lamps. The building burned down in 1932 but was quickly rebuilt in the same style, with a larger, 1,670 square foot maple dance floor.
As the dance floor indicates, music was important to the Evergreen Ballroom since its beginning. While his wife ran the restaurant, Walter Sholund led the house band. The Sholunds brought in many classic swing and jazz acts over the years from dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to Duke Ellington, Count Bassie, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong.
The Daily Olympian and Tacoma News Tribune newspapers ran several advertisements for Armstrong’s 1944 concert. “Louis Armstrong, trumpet king of swing,” The Daily Olympian advertised on July 16, “and his famous orchestra will provide the tantalizing music for dancing at Evergreen Ballroom Saturday night, July 22, from 9:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.” Armstrong’s seventeen piece orchestra had been featured in several popular movies and recorded well-selling records with him. Other vocalists in the band, Velma Middleton and Jimmy Ross, were also featured in advertisements. The newspaper promised a night of excellent music (with a large dose of comedy) from the band. Admission was set at $1.50 per person. This being World War II with gasoline rationing in effect, coming to this concert would be a big deal to people. Many would have carpooled or taken the bus.
Louis Armstrong was African American and Thurston County, like the rest of the country in the 1940s, was full of racism. African Americans, including pioneer George Bush and Pacific House hotel owners Rebecca and Alexander Howard, have played an important part in Thurston County history. Still the area was very racist in the mid-20th century. Indeed, Louis Armstrong and other black performers faced discrimination on a daily basis. Many of the places they were asked to perform would not have admitted them as customers or guests. Some records indicate that, fortunately, the Evergreen Ballroom was not formally or informally segregated.
Years later Armstrong would return to the ballroom for another concert. This concert took place on Sunday, March 18, 1951. The band was advertised then in The Daily Olympian as the one he performed with at Carnegie Hall and included Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Cozy Cole and Velma Middleton. Similar to last time, the concert ran from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Olympia ran a special Greyhound bus out to the concert. Like the 1944 concert, tickets cost $1.50, with advance tickets being sold at the Spar Café.
Armstrong’s lengthy career would last up until his death in 1971. Time moved on for the Evergreen Ballroom as well. While it weathered changes in musical tastes, with the completion of I-5 in 1967, much traffic (and many people) bypassed Highway 99 and the Ballroom. But the Evergreen Ballroom continued, hosting bands and private parties in its final years. The building burned on Thursday, July 20, 2000. Although fire trucks from six stations responded, it was beyond saving. Two firemen and a kitten were injured, though not seriously. Plans to rebuild using locally raised money (since the building was uninsured) fell through.
Although the Evergreen Ballroom is gone, its musical legacy should not be forgotten. One important part of this legacy was Louis Armstrong’s 1944 and 1951 concerts. Amidst war and racism the events brought individuals together in celebration of music. Even today music remains a powerful way of uniting people.
