Adobe Dance Hall

Construction on the Adobe Dance Hall was completed in May 1905. Built of local stone stacked in place and mortared together with adobe, it was one of the first substantial buildings in Rhyolite and occupied two lots at the corner of Amargosa Street and Colorado Avenue in the Red-Light District. It was owned by prospector Bob Bynum, who had bought the lots for $1 apiece. At the western end were a dance hall and bar where miners and prospectors could pay to dance with the ladies of the establishment or watch boxing matches and other sporting events. The eastern portion was divided into four small rooms, or cribs, used by red-light women and their clients. In Rhyolite's early days, these working women used the Adobe Dance Hall as a gathering place to socialize, celebrate holidays, and build a sense of community. The 1910 census shows that one-third of Rhyolite's working women lived on Amargosa Street, including Cora Ross, Blanche Bliss, Grace James, Helen Colby, and others, who listed their occupations as housekeepers and piano players but probably worked in the cribs there.

Nevada · United States