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Following World War II, hundreds of soldiers came home from the battlefield to the rural areas of Lavaca County. The returning veterans needed a place to gather, socialize and enjoy their victory. Soldiers and their dates came to the Cotton Grove dance floor to dance and mingle. Most of the youth were first- or second-generation descendants of German and Czech immigrants. They were still attracted to their ancestors’ music and because of this, local bands such as the Hi Toppers would play polkas and waltzes and sing in their native languages. Cotton Grove dance floor was started by Alfons and Martha Pavlicek in 1946 and flourished for eight years as a social, musical and cultural center for the surrounding area. The dance floor had a white picket fence enclosing it as well as a ticket booth, restrooms and a wooden band stand. Colored lights were hung on tall poles and strung across the dance floor and roof lines of nearby buildings. In 1948, Mr. Pavlicek built a small store next to the dance floor and erected an additional building to serve as a bar. Cotton Grove also doubled as a major site for wedding receptions for couples who wished to return to the place they first met, on the dance floor. Because of the opening of a few air-conditioned indoor halls and a widespread outbreak of polio in the area, attendance went down, and the dance floor was closed. Cotton Grove still lives on as a pleasant memory for thousands of citizens and stands as a unique symbol of a simpler and more innocent time when it reigned as the social, musical and cultural heart of Northwestern Lavaca County in the post-World War II era. |
