New Ulm residents, dance to polka music at a street dance to polka music by Dain’s Dutchmen at the intersection of Center and German Street Sunday afternoon.

NEW ULM — Rose and Florian Dittrich smiled as they listened to Dain’s Dutchmen play polka music at a street dance to bid farewell to the ballroom that entertained them and thousands of other area residents decades ago.

“Polka music is happy music, more so than other music,” said Rose Dittrich.

“We got married here on a Wednesday in June of 1961,” said Florian Dittrich. “Lots of Catholics couldn’t eat meat on Fridays so there were lots of mid-week weddings back then.”

“We spent a lot of good times at George’s during our school years. Sometimes, we went to three dances a week there,” said Florian.

“(Owner) George Neuwirth ran a really tight organization. We were afraid to talk smart there back then. Anybody who didn’t act right was banned for a few months,” Florian added. “George would sit inside the door with a cigar. He knew his customers, giving them a nod. I used to haul his liquor.”

Between songs, polka musician Dain Moldan read old George’s Ballroom advertising that listed polka and rock bands including Jesse Brady and True Don Blue.

Other couples dancing in the street included Mary Baumann of Sleepy Eye and Jerry Steinbach of New Ulm.

“It goes back to when I was five years old. I remember sliding on the George’s Ballroom floor while my parents, Catherine and Herbert Steinbach (of Fairfax) danced there,” Steinbach recalled.

“We came here many times later in life,” he added.

Fairfax farmer Gregg Albrecht remembered coming to George’s Ballroom as a teenager.

“One time I asked (owner) George what it took to be successful,” said Albrecht. “He said, ‘look at your watch. Lose it. Don’t worry about what time it is.”

Albrecht said he and his family band played at George’s in the 1980s.

Opening in 1947, the sprawling art deco complex included a ballroom , eight bowling lanes, restaurant and was advertised as having “the longest bar in the northwest.”

Popular with young couples reuniting after World War II, George’s performers included Lawrence Welk, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller and the Six Fat Dutchmen.

The building was closed in 1991 due to declining interest in big bands and ballroom dancing.

Acquired by Brown County in a tax foreclosure case, the building was sold at auction. A new owner planned to renovate the building but that didn’t happen. It re-opened for a short time and closed again.

Tax-forfeited again in 2019, the Brown County board of commissioners authorized demolition in September 2019.

Earlier this year, the county board and New Ulm City Council reached a development agreement with Coldwell Banker Commercial Fisher Group of Mankato to demolish the building and create a mixed-use space for commercial and residential use with underground and above ground parking.

Mitigation strategy includes state approval including the Minnesota Preservation Commission for preserving and salvaging parts of the ballroom after demolition.

Plans include salvaging the George’s Ballroom exterior signage and either incorporating it into the new building design of displaying it some place in the city.