Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Davenport Hotel’s first big “society” event was a “whirl of fashion” and a “flow of wit,” according to The Spokesman-Review.

It was a society ball, in which women showed off a colorful array of evening gowns in “trailing satins, quaintly flowered taffetas, and laces that had played a part in the romances of other lives.”

However, it was also a dance recital, as the ball was interrupted for a series of staged dance performances.

“A group of dancers in old French court costume, which harmonized perfectly with the Louis Seize decorations of the (Isabella) room, appeared in the center of the ballroom and went through the graceful evolutions of the minuet,” the society correspondent wrote. “Then they proceeded to the lobby and with a great pink silk beflowered ribbon, formed a circle about the Italian marble fountain in the center of the rotunda, while Miss Anne Rochester Moore danced in pink and white flowing Grecian draperies around the fountain basin.”

Later, a group of young society “buds and beaux” danced a tango. This was followed by the dancing of Miss Juliette Happel and Albert Van Rosen, who showed off the latest European styles. Miss Happel, of Antwerp, Belgium, had recently fled the European war zone.

Supper was not served until midnight, and even after that “the happy-hearted throng refused to return to their homes.” They kept dancing and dancing “until the hour waxed late.”