Opened by Wenceslas (Mons) Fournier around 1900 as Fournier's Dancing Academy and Ballroom, the facility first catered to formal events and later became a major entertainment center in northwestern Wisconsin. Before that, the circa 1887 building had housed enterprises including the Griffin Rifles Armory, from which soldiers departed the city for the Spanish American War. In the late 1930s, local bandleader Conrad Johnstad, then a boy, was beckoned to sit by the drummer, who turned out to be Louis Armstrong. During the 1950s and 60s, Fournier's was the regional hot spot for entertainment, with northwestern Wisconsin's largest dance floor and crowds that sometimes topped 1,000. Performers from the Fabulous Fifties included Conway Twitty, Bobby Darin, The Everley Brothers, Del Shannon, and Gene Vincent, and the best remembered event was the Winter Dance Party of January 26, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Dion & The Belmonts shared the stage; a week later, Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash after playing the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the 1960s, popular bands included The Thundermen, The Intruders, The Showman, The Shandells, Doc and the Interns, Crosstown Trafficque, The Renditions, Stormy Monday Blues, Carnaby Street, and The Exchange, while earlier eras had also brought big band stars such as Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo, Wayne King, and Lawrence Welk, along with regional and local acts including Frankie Yankovic, The Six Fat Dutchman, The Rhythm Playboys, The Frank Switzer Orchestra, and The Howie Sturtz Orchestra. After Fournier died in 1926, the business was left in trust to Lou Fournier, whose energy and love of music sustained its success until her death in 1968. As new technology expanded entertainment choices and ballroom dancing declined, Fournier's Ballroom closed on February 27, 1971, and the building was gone by December, though it remained cherished in memory as a place to meet friends and dance.