Lucille, Leonora, and the Ringler’s Dance Card
In 2023, native Portlander Lucille Pierce, born in 1921, found a slice of local history among her family keepsakes and kindly shared the artifact with McMenamins. While going through her late mother’s belongings, Lucille discovered a punch card for dance lessons at Ringler’s Dancing Academy at the Cotillion Hall, signed by Montrose Ringler, himself! Lucille kindly shared the card with McMenamins; it is now on display at Ringlers Pub.
Ringler’s Dancing Academy and Cotillion Hall, c. 1914 (now the Crystal Ballroom)
Built in 1914, Cotillion Hall was the original name of the Crystal Ballroom where dance academy instructor and owner Montrose Ringler held lessons and formal dances. The dance-lesson punch card is made out in the name of Miss Leonora Garrison and dated July 25, 1919 in Ringler’s handwriting.
Leonora Garrison was born in 1900 and moved to Portland from a farm south of Springfield, Missouri as a young woman. Leonora left her parents on the farm and traveled across the country by train with relatives to meet her cousins in Portland.
Original Ringler’s Dancing Academy lesson punch card, 1919.
“It took courage for her to leave home at the age of 18,” Lucille said of her mother. “What is there for a girl on a farm in Missouri to do, besides get married? And apparently, according to one of her cousins who told me later, she just left a boyfriend there that thought he was engaged to her. I think she wanted to get away from him. Frankly, she wanted to do some living,” explained Lucille.
“I don’t mean that she didn’t love her family. I’m sure she did, but I think she wanted to get away from it all. I think she wanted a little adventure in her life. She came out here and took dance lessons right away. She was just going to get into things.”
Leonora Garrison, c. 1920
Leonora rented a room in a downtown Portland boardinghouse and got a job at a local factory, making heart-shaped boxes popular for Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t long after taking those dance lessons that Leonora fell in love.
Lucille’s parents, Leonora and Francis Harris met at a formal dance at Council Crest Amusement Park, and they attended many cotillions at the Crystal Ballroom, Jantzen Beach, and other dance halls around Portland throughout their life together.
Taking after her mother, Lucille’s first date with her husband was also at a formal dance. “I had to have worn a ballgown,” she said.
Lucille Pierce, born in 1921, holding a photo of her mother, Leonora Garrison (Harris), born in 1900
During their marriage, even after four children, Lucille and her husband continued to make time for special occasion dances. “When you’re busy raising a family, you don’t have a lot of time just for yourselves as a couple. You could always count on when you got to do something special. That was the sacrosanct thing.”
Lucille’s mother, Leonora held onto her Ringler’s Dancing Academy card for the rest of her life, but the reason she didn’t finish the last three lessons remains a mystery.
“You don’t think of those questions to ask,” said Lucille. “There are so many things I wish I had an answer for. But they’re not going to tell. You don’t go quizzing [your parents] about what it was like when they were young.”
Perhaps the last lessons on the Ringler’s dance card remained unpunched because Leonora had simply perfected the dance, and Lucille followed in her footsteps.