Following World War II, returning soldiers in the rural areas of Lavaca County sought a place to gather, socialize, and celebrate, and the Cotton Grove dance floor became a popular center for dancing and mingling. Many of the young people there were first- or second-generation descendants of German and Czech immigrants who remained drawn to their ancestors’ music, so local bands such as the Hi Toppers played polkas and waltzes and sang in their native languages. Started by Alfons and Martha Pavlicek in 1946, Cotton Grove flourished for eight years as a social, musical, and cultural center for the surrounding area. The dance floor was enclosed by a white picket fence and included a ticket booth, restrooms, and a wooden band stand, with colored lights hung on tall poles and strung across the dance floor and nearby roof lines. In 1948, Mr. Pavlicek built a small store next to the dance floor and added another building to serve as a bar. Cotton Grove also became a major site for wedding receptions for couples who wished to return to the place where they first met. Attendance later declined because air-conditioned indoor halls opened and polio spread widely in the area, and the dance floor closed. It remains a pleasant memory for thousands and a symbol of a simpler, more innocent time when it was the social, musical, and cultural heart of northwestern Lavaca County in the post-World War II era.