From clipping collection of Jane Pinney-"Wellsville Daily Reporter" picture & story 5/3/1974
FOR SALE—The contents of the Cuba Lake Pavilion go on the auction block tomorrow, and the popular dance hall will be torn down soon after. Owner Wesley Wakefield has sold the lakeside lots surrounding the pavilion, which was the scene of summer fun for more than half a century.
CUBA — The party’s over for the Cuba Lake Pavilion. The popular dance hall, where people have dined and danced each summer for more than half a century, will be torn down to give way to more lakeside homes.
Wesley Wakefield, the current owner of the pavilion, told the Daily Reporter yesterday he has sold three pieces of land around the pavilion for residential purposes, and will keep for himself a fourth lot on which the pavilion is located.
The building will be torn down within several days, Mr. Wakefield said, after an auction of its contents and lumber tomorrow.
Mr. Wakefield said he has been considering selling or disposing of the resort building for “some time,” and that financial consideration, including offers for the lakeside lots, made up his mind.
Items to be sold at the auction, beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow, include kitchen equipment, restaurant and bar furniture, antique ice cream parlor chairs, and oak desk, picnic tables, and lawn chairs.
Mr. Wakefield also hopes to sell much of the lumber from the pavilion.
Whatever the outcome of the auction, the pavilion will come down soon, ending a summer tradition at Cuba Lake that stretches back to the early years of this century.
In 1915, J. Fenton Olive purchased what was then called the Thomas Pavilion, hoping to turn it into “a first- class pleasure resort,” according to a news item in a 1915 Cuba Patriot.
For many years thereafter, “Olivecrest” was the scene of summer dances, bathing, and dining. Although its history until 1948 is a bit hazy, “program dances” were a popular part of the Olive tenure at the pavilion.
About 1948, William Rasmusson bought the pavilion, and sold it seven years later to Darwin Barnes of Wellsville. In 1961, Mr. Wakefield became the owner.
In recent years, a new dancing generation kicked off each summer season at the lake to the sound of rock bands at the pavilion. The last public event there was on Labor Day 1973.
An amusement park at the pavilion was closed in 1970, when Mr. Wakefield sold the children’s rides.