Originally known as the Jordan Dance Hall, this building was constructed about 1925 by Elder Jordan, Sr., one of the first African-American businessmen, and his sons. Its first floor held the ticket window, and wooden steps led to a large hard oak dance floor with a raised band stand at the south end and long benches along both walls. A stop on the renowned Chitlin’ Circuit, it served for more than 40 years as the focal point of culture and entertainment in the community and was instrumental in the development of blues, gospel, jazz, and big band music in the South during segregation. It also hosted dances, coronations, Gibbs High School junior and senior proms, and even some Gibbs High School basketball practices. George Grogan helped shape the Manhattan Casino as a concert promoter who booked bands across Florida and is credited with giving James Brown his start, while Goldie Thompson, a Jordan Park resident, Baptist minister, and pioneer in African-American broadcasting, promoted gospel music beginning in 1940, later worked on WEBO and WIOK, and managed the Manhattan Casino after World War II. From 1936 until the 1950s, George Cooper's 16-piece local band played Thursday afternoon and Friday night dances there, and Steve and Buster Cooper later performed with Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington. Buddy West booked the Don Redman Band, the first noted big band to appear there, as well as Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Earl "Fatha" Hines. Al Downing, remembered for jazz in St. Petersburg, served with the Tuskegee Airmen, led the 618th Army Air Force Band in Tuskegee, and after retirement returned to St. Petersburg to teach at Gibbs High School and St. Petersburg Junior College. Over the years, nationally known performers there included Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, Fats Domino, Ink Spots, Mahalia Jackson, The Silas Green Minstrel Show, Little Richard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Erskine Hawkins, Otis Redding, Clyde McPhatter, Brook Benton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Arthur Prysock.