As part of the weekend celebrating the historic Spanish Castle, the Oddfellows Hall in Des Moines is sponsoring a Swing Night on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

This will be a FREE event, with live music and dancing.

According to the Des Moines Historical Society:

The Spanish Castle was built in the early 1930s and know as the Highline Spanish Castle. The building looked like a castle and had the initials “H L” on the chimney.

It was one of many ballroom dance establishments in the Seattle area. Frankie Roth and later Gordon Greene lead the band. M. W. Morrill bought the castle in 1937 and sold it in 1961 to his original partner C. L. Knudtsen.

In later years local radio stations brought bands to Seattle to perform at the Spanish Castle. Guitar mastermind, Jimi Hendrix, a Seattle native, performed at the Spanish Castle and wrote “Spanish Castle Magic” in it’s honor.

It was bulldozed the week of April 7, 1968 and replaced with the office building north of the gas station on the corner. In the spring of 2005 the office building was demolished to make room for a Walgreens Pharmacy.

Here’s what that location looks like now:

There will be some other celebrations for this iconic landmark, and we’ll try to post those as we get more information.

The Oddfellows’ Lodge is located at 728 S. 225th Street: