El Torreon Ballroom (Cowtown Ballroom)

The El Torreon Ballroom, opened in 1927 at 31st and Gillham in midtown Kansas City, is a Spanish/Moorish dance palace built for the big-band era — a 2,000-capacity upper ballroom crowned by a giant mirror ball and a ceiling machine that threw clouds and stars across the room. After its jazz-age heyday it spent decades as a roller rink, then re-emerged in the early 1970s as the Cowtown Ballroom, one of the Midwest’s legendary counterculture-era rock rooms (Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, B.B. King, Linda Ronstadt) before closing in 1974. The building still stands and today operates in part as an event space.

Opening and the jazz age (1927-1930s)

The El Torreon Ballroom opened on December 15, 1927, at 31st and Gillham Road, built to serve the surging popularity of big-band jazz orchestras.¹ Construction was financed by nightclub owner Thomas O. Bright and bandleader Phil Baxter; opening night was headlined by the Coon-Sanders Night Hawks and the house El Torreon Orchestra under Phil Baxter, and drew a reported 3,000 people.²

The ballroom was designed in a Spanish Mission motif, with arched doorways and one of the highest free-standing vaulted ceilings in the city.¹³ An enormous crystal mirror ball — nearly three feet tall, roughly ten feet in circumference, and weighing more than 100 pounds, its plaster core studded with an oft-cited “100,000 mirrors” — hung over a dance floor sized for 2,000 dancers, ringed on three sides by a balcony.¹⁴ A projection machine cast moving clouds and stars across the vaulted ceiling, part of a deliberately romantic, lower-priced alternative to the city’s grander ballrooms.⁴

Through the late 1920s and 1930s the upper ballroom hosted a genuine jazz history, including extended engagements by Phil Baxter and his Texas Tommies and The Alabamians featuring Cab Calloway, among other touring orchestras of the era.⁴³ The venue also drew orchestras for dancing, beauty pageants, and, later, boxing matches, with storerooms at ground level beneath the top-floor dance hall.⁵ It sat on the newly paved Gillham Plaza, a strip between Gillham Road and Oak Street that was coming to life as a commercial address in 1928.⁵

The Great Depression undercut the ballroom’s economics, and the El Torreon closed as a jazz-era dance hall around 1934-1935.⁴ (Sources vary between a 1934 and a 1935 closing date; “ to settle which.)

Roller rink years (mid-1930s-c. 1970)

After its ballroom era ended, the space was converted to a roller-skating rink and ran as one for decades — remembered by patrons for its enormous, high-quality skating floor.⁴³ Accounts of the exact span vary: some place the roller rink from about 1935 to 1970, others from roughly 1937 into the 1960s, with the room also serving as a rock-and-roll venue at points in the 1950s.⁴³ (The precise start and end years of the roller-rink era are inconsistently reported; “.)

The Cowtown Ballroom era (1971-1974)

In 1971 the old upper ballroom reopened for live music as the Cowtown Ballroom, quickly becoming one of the most acclaimed concert rooms on the national touring circuit.⁴⁶ Although it operated for only about 38 months, closing in 1974, Cowtown drew an outsized roster of major acts during the counterculture era.⁶

Performers who played Cowtown included Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, B.B. King, Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Brewer & Shipley, Poco, Hot Tuna, and King Crimson, among many others.⁴⁶⁷ By local lore the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band alone played the room six times; Linda Ronstadt’s backing musicians in this period would go on to form the Eagles; a young Steve Martin opened a Dirt Band show there; and the KC-founded band Kansas performed early in its career.⁷

Cowtown closed after a final show on September 16, 1974, headlined by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Brewer & Shipley, Larry Knight and Friends, and Country Heir.⁷⁶ Though it rarely turned a profit, the venue’s brief run was significant enough that Kansas City filmmakers Joe Heyen and Anthony Ladesich later produced a documentary, Cowtown Ballroom… Sweet Jesus!, built on interviews with musicians who had played the room.⁶

Later history and current status

After the Cowtown era the building passed through further uses — including a hardcore, metal, punk, and ska concert room in and around the 1990s-2000s, and a stint as a flea market / vintage market.⁴³ The property later came under Bridgeport Church, which undertook renovation work.³

The building still stands at 31st and Gillham. As of the operator’s most recent account, the lower ballroom, entry, and front concert space have been revitalized and are booked for events, weddings, and performances as “El Torreon,” while the historic upper ballroom remained closed for remodeling.³ The El Torreon’s original mirror ball survived and, after minimal restoration, went on public display at the Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall, which reopened on October 21, 2021.⁴

Same-name note

This entry concerns the historic 3101 Gillham Plaza ballroom and its Cowtown Ballroom era. It should not be confused with unrelated “El Torreon” businesses (restaurants and other venues sharing the common Spanish name) elsewhere. Within Kansas City music history, “Cowtown Ballroom” is effectively a synonym for this specific building’s 1971-1974 concert life.

Sources

Footnotes

1. The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library) — “El-Torreon Ballroom Opens.” https://pendergastkc.org/timeline/el-torreon-ballroom-opens — asserts: opened December 15, 1927, at 31st and Gillham Road; Spanish Mission motif with arched doorways and a vaulted ceiling; crystal mirror ball with 100,000 mirrors suspended over a dance floor for 2,000 dancers; balcony surrounding the floor on three sides. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Clio — “History of El Torreon and Cowtown Ballroom” (theclio.com/entry/153579). https://theclio.com/entry/153579 — asserts: construction financed by nightclub owner Thomas O. Bright and bandleader Phil Baxter; opening night headlined by the Coon-Sanders Night Hawks and the house El Torreon Orchestra directed by Phil Baxter; roughly 3,000 in attendance. (Full page not independently re-fetched during drafting — details relayed via search index; “ confirmation of Bright/Baxter financing and the 3,000 figure against the primary Clio text.) ↩

3. El Torreon KC (current operator) — “The History.” https://www.eltorreonkc.com/the-history — asserts: 1927 gala opening with events on the second-floor upper ballroom; one of the highest vaulted ceilings in the city with crystal chandeliers; Cab Calloway and other jazz luminaries in the 1920s-30s; roller rink / rock-and-roll use mid-century; 1970s Cowtown Ballroom; hardcore/metal/punk/ska front concert room in the early 2000s; Bridgeport Church renovation; lower ballroom, entry, and concert space revitalized for events/weddings/performances while the upper ballroom remained closed for remodeling. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. KCUR (NPR Kansas City) — “After decades tucked away, El Torreon mirror ball shines again at Kansas City Museum” (Oct. 1, 2021). https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2021-10-01/after-decades-tucked-away-el-torreon-mirror-ball-shines-again-at-kansas-city-museum — asserts: mirror ball fabricated 1918 (plaster, ~3 ft tall, ~10 ft circumference, 100+ lbs), debuted December 1927; El Torreon at 31st and Gillham, Spanish architecture with a cloud/star ceiling projector; Phil Baxter and his Texas Tommies and The Alabamians featuring Cab Calloway performed; closed during the Depression in 1935; roller rink 1935-1970; Cowtown Ballroom 1970-1974 (Zappa, Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, B.B. King, Van Morrison); later a punk venue and flea market; mirror ball now displayed at the Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall, reopened October 21, 2021. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

5. Midtown KC Post — “Gillham Plaza Came to Life in 1928.” https://midtownkcpost.com/gillham-plaza-came-to-life-in-1928/ — asserts: El Torreon at 31st and Gillham Plaza with storerooms on ground level and the dance hall on the top floor; popular for dancing to orchestras, beauty pageants, and later boxing matches; Gillham Plaza (between Gillham Road and Oak Street) paved and developing in 1928. ↩ ↩²

6. The Real Easy Ed — “Kansas City’s Cowtown Ballroom: 1971-1974.” https://www.therealeasyed.com/kansas-citys-cowtown-ballroom-1971-1974/ — asserts: Cowtown opened in the summer of 1971 and operated about 38 months; documentary Cowtown Ballroom… Sweet Jesus! by Joe Heyen and Anthony Ladesich; final concert Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Brewer & Shipley on September 16, 1974; extensive 1971-1974 concert roster. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. Another Verse (KC) — “Today in KC’s Music History: Cowtown Ballroom’s Final Show” (Sept. 16, 2010). https://anotherversekc.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/today-in-kcs-music-history-cowtown-ballrooms-final-show/ — asserts: Cowtown on the second floor of the El Torreon Ballroom at 31st and Gillham Plaza; final show September 16, 1974 (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Brewer & Shipley, Larry Knight and Friends, Country Heir); Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, B.B. King, Linda Ronstadt among performers; Dirt Band played six times; Ronstadt’s backing band later became the Eagles; Steve Martin opened for the Dirt Band; Kansas played there early. ↩ ↩² ↩³