The Big Pavilion

Location: Water and Culver Streets, Saugatuck
Date: 1909-1960

It was a great sensation. No building before or since has come to symbolize “Saugatuck” more than has the Big Pavilion dance hall and movie theater, which opened to a huge crowd on the 4th of July, 1909. Electricity had not yet come to Saugatuck so the 5,000 flashing lights on the interior arches and an additional 5,000 lights on the exterior were powered by a separate generating system. It was the second largest dance hall in America, and steamships and the Interurban train brought as many as a thousand people a day to its doors. The music was hot and the dancing was extraordinary. Ice cream was available on the dance floor level, and drinks were served in a huge bar below. It also included a movie theater that proved to be a popular place to leave the kids. The huge waterside dock was used for community water festivals and for public docking. A mysterious fire destroyed the building on May 6, 1960.