Mbhs #: 0755
Year: 1911
Date: 3 Mar 1911
Location: 120 North Riverside
Location 2: The site is now occupied by the Red Lion.
Source: The Sunday Oregonian
Event/Activity: Watkins-born Frank Collings aka "Battling Frankie Edwards" boxed and refereed fights at the Natatorium.
Notes: MERRICK'S NATATORIUM CENTER OF EARLY ACTIVITY In the fall of 1909 [construction started in the spring of 1910], ten teams of horses [and] more than a score of men, with scoops known as fresnos, began breaking ground at 120 North Riverside, Medford. By June 23rd, 1910, a $200,000 edifice had been created--the largest and finest building of its kind in Southern Oregon--Merrick's ballroom. [The building was originally known as the Natatorium; Fred E. Merrick's name would not be attached until the early 1920s.] Early this week, two workmen started to tear down this building, a job that may take until May 15. In the forty-five years, the building had changed from the social center of the county to a little-used structure, a building that like an old man lived in its past glory; lived with its memories of the great events, of the famous people who had come and gone. As John G. Crawford, one of the building owners, put it: "Merrick's ballroom has reached the end of its economic life." One of the principal features of the new structure when it opened in 1910 was its huge swimming pool. It was 50 by 100 feet and held 50,000 gallons of water. In the winter the pool was boarded over and used for a roller rink. Rogue River Times, December 16, 1955, page 10, as annotated by Ben Truwe; see truwe.sohs.org
