DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of the Lubbock Cotton Club. Back in 1938, a man named Clyde Trusty looked at a renovated army quonset hut and saw something most folks would never see: a ballroom. He opened it right here, and the Lubbock Cotton Club was born.
It didn't stay modest for long. The very next year, the place expanded — and when it was done, it had room for sixteen hundred people on one of the largest dance floors in all of west Texas. You heard that right.
A quonset hut turned into a room big enough to hold a small town's worth of dancers. The well-known orchestras and big bands of the day rolled through, and among the first western swing bands to take that stage were Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. If you know anything about Texas music, you know that name carries weight.
Then in 1952, Ralph Lowe bought the business, and he had an eye for national acts. He brought them in, one after another. Now here's where the story takes a turn that history will never let go of — in 1955, Elvis Presley played a show at the Cotton Club.
And it was there, at that show, that Elvis Presley met Buddy Holly. Two names that would shake American music, standing on the same Cotton Club floor. African American musicians graced that stage too — Charles Brown among them.
But 1958 brought something nobody wanted. Fire destroyed the club. Ralph Lowe sold the business.
The Cotton Club, though — it didn't die on that floor. It carried on at a new site, keepin' the dance alive until 1980, when it finally closed for good. Some places hold more history than their walls can contain.
The Lubbock Cotton Club was one of them.
What the marker says
In 1938, Clyde Trusty opened a ballroom in a renovated army quonset hut at this site. The Lubbock Cotton Club hosted well-known orchestras and big bands popular at the time. The venue expanded the following year, with room for 1600 people on one of the largest dance floors in west Texas. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were among the first western swing bands to play the cotton club. In 1952, Ralph Lowe bought the business and brought in national acts including Elvis Presley, who met Buddy Holly during a 1955 show. African American musicians including Charles Brown also played here. In 1958 fire destroyed the club and Lowe sold the business. The cotton club continued in a new site until 1980 when it closed for good. (2008)