Despite outspoken opposition by the Dallas Morning News to its construction, another lakeside attraction of the 1930s was a dance pavilion that stood near the White Rock bathing beach. Featuring a "huge concrete slab" that could accommodate large crowds, the pavilion was built at a cost of $5,444. It proved so popular that the structure very nearly paid for itself during its first summer of operation, when proceeds from the modest admission charge totaled over $4,000.

During the summer of 1934 dances were held every night but Sunday, with live music provided by Babe Lowry's "Rhythm Sweethearts," an all-female orchestra that included Lowry, harpist and vocalist Nell O'Connell, saxophonist Alice Fronk Wood, trumpeter Angie Coppedge, and xylophonist Corrine Osborne. On Sunday afternoons, from 4 to 6 p.m., the "Sweethearts" entertained beachgoers with a medley of concert tunes and on special occasions, such as the Fourth of July, they performed well into the night.

Despite its popularity, the pavilion appears to have had a short-existence. No mention of it can be found in newspapers after 1934 and it is missing from maps of the park that were drawn in the mid-to-late 1930s. What became of the structure is uncertain.

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Sources:

Dallas Morning News, May 28, June 3, and July 5, 1934.

Daily Dallas Times Herald, May 27, July 4, and July 5, 1934.

Harry Jebsen, Jr., Robert M. Newton, and Patricia R. Hogan, Centennial History of the Dallas, Texas Park System, 1876-1976 (Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University, 1976), 447.