Adobe Dance Hall

Construction on the Adobe Dance Hall was completed in May 1905. As its name implies, the hall was constructed of local stone that was stacked in place and then mortared together with adobe.

The Adobe Dance Hall was one of the first substantial buildings in Rhyolite and occupied two lots on the corner of Amargosa Street and Colorado Avenue in the Red-Light District. It was owned by Bob Bynum, a prospector who had purchased the lots for $1 a piece.

At the western end of the building, there was a dance hall and bar where miners and prospectors could pay for the privilege of dancing with the ladies of the establishment or watch boxing matches or other sporting events.

The eastern portion of the hall was a divided into four small rooms of roughly equal size. These "cribs" were used by the red-light women and their clients.

In the early days of Rhyolite, 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 reveals that one-third of Rhyolite's working women lived on Amargosa Street. Cora Ross, Blanche Bliss, Grace James, Helen Colby, and others, were all residents. While they listed their jobs as housekeepers and piano players, they probably worked in the cribs at the Adobe Dance Hall. . This historical marker was erected in 2022 by Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior. It is in Rhyolite in Nye County Nevada