The Castilla, an elaborate dance hall and dinner establishment constructed on Rt. 37 north of Marion by the Moake Bros. was completely destroyed by fire believed to have begun in the heating plant. The building was insured. The fire halted a Walkathon contest which was in its fifth day and sent contestants, musicians and spectators scurrying from the building. The fact that all of the 15 contestants in the contest were on the floor at the time of the fire probably prevented casualties which might have resulted had the fire occurred during the rest periods when the contestants would have been reclining in the rest rooms, perhaps asleep. As it was, however, the vast amusement hall became filled with smoke and those inside barely managed to save themselves, many of them leaving their personal property including musicians’ instruments, costumes and clothing inside to be burned in the fire. When the fire was discovered the contestants in the walkathon were eating supper while continuing their endurance walking contest on the floor. The blaze was first discovered when wood above the furnace which was located on the ground floor caught fire. The blaze spread rapidly, and soon most of the building was in flames. Howard Moake was summoned from downtown by the walkathon contest management and when he reached the wooden superstructure above the brick walled dance hall was falling in. His brother Harold was among the fifty persons in the building when the fire started. The fire department was called out and attempted to combat the flames without success. An intake hose was run from the fire pumper to the old C. & E.I. Lake in an effort to secure water with which to fight the flames. The lake had been drained several weeks ago however and there was not sufficient water to make any appreciable fight against the roaring flames which within a few minutes were leaping skyward showering sparks down upon the sleepy and shivering contestants and others attracted to the scene of the fire by the light the flames made in the sky. Two hours after the fire was discovered, the beautiful dance place to which dance lovers from throughout Southern Illinois have gathered to dance to the music of Ben Bernie and others of the biggest names in the dance music world was a mass of smoldering embers of wood and crumbling brick. The fire was the latest of a series of misfortunes which have dogged the Moake Bros. since they first announced plans for the erection of the amusement hall. The curse of ill luck even dated farther back than their ownership of the building materials which went into its construction. Some fifteen yrs ago, the brick of which the Castilla was constructed was first used in the construction of a three story factory building just west of Marion which was to have become a piano factory. For years the building stood on the city’s western skyline as a monument to an unsuccessful industrial promotion. At different times it was occupied by various businesses which sooner or later found another location or died completely. Perennial rumors were circulated as to ambitious plans for its conversion into this or that industrial enterprise but they never materialized until last summer the Moake Bros. bought the building, wrecked it and moved the materials to the site of the Castilla which they fashioned in a style of Spanish architecture. Contents of the building which were lost included the booths, tables, chairs and benches that had been borrowed from E.T. Hudgens, Eliza Cash, the Elks club and the air association, baby grand piano, radio broadcasting equipment, heating equipment and the wardrobe of the entertainers and the furniture and clothing of Harold Moake who lived on the second floor.

(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at  http://www.marionfire.us/ )