At its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, the Dew Drop Jazz Hall in Mandeville was to jazz music as recreation is to Lake Pontchartrain, but today, the small structure sits mostly in silence awaiting its next opportunity to shine.

The wooden building was the “What and Where” when it came to showcasing musical talent after it was constructed by the Dew Drop Social and Benevolent No. 2 organization of Mandeville in the 400 block of Lamarque Street in 1895, as listed on its cornerstone etched into one of the cement pillars.

Jazz pioneers, like child prodigy Buddy Petit and Louis Armstrong, frequented the structure and provided countless hours of entertainment for a small fee.

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The entertainment would last from sundown to sunup, Richard Boyd said, board member of the Friends of the Dew Drop, a nonprofit organization recently created to restore the hall.

The Dew Drop Social and Benevolent organization was founded in 1885 by a group of African-Americans who banded together to provide aid to impoverished friends and relatives in times of need.

Benevolent groups like the Dew Drop group were popular in the late nineteenth century especially in New Orleans. The groups would collect money through membership dues or they would raise it by putting on dances or other events. Using the funds collected, they would provide financial aid to struggling families, particularly those having trouble covering funeral costs.

The Dew Drop organization decided to construct the jazz hall for their fundraising needs where they hosted a bevy of social gatherings from dances to concerts.

Today, the 113-year-old building remains mostly unaltered and very quiet with its cement piers supporting the heart-of-pine wooden structure. The walls and floors were made from bargeboard planks that are 12 inches wide, Boyd said, explaining the boards on barges that were put out of commission were dismantled and sold. The heart-of-pine wood is a solid, durable lumber that can be found in most historic plantation homes like Maison Lafitte on Lafitte Street in Mandeville.

The hall, which is arguably the oldest surviving, un-altered jazz hall on the planet, has never had electricity. Today, the only electricity running to it is in the form of an extension cord connected to a city meter located behind the building.

The building relies on the two 300-year-old oak trees, framing the entrance of the building, to provide some much-needed shade. The design of the hall, with batten shutters opening onto large windows opposing each other, also helps with cooling by allowing a steady breeze to flow across the dance floor.

The inside is adorned with rows of benches that date to the early 1900s but are easily moved to open up the floor into a true dance hall.

There’s also a small wooden stage in the rear of the building where musicians likely performed while looking over the crowd of attendees jiving to the tunes.

To encapsulate the deep-rooted culture and history of the jazz hall, Mayor Pro Tem Trilby Lenfant, Boyd and several others formed the Friends of the Dew Drop two years ago after the building was donated to the city. After accepting the structure, the city had the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places joining 36 other locations in St. Tammany. Their mission statement: “to preserve and foster the important cultural heritage of this unique rural dance hall.”

Lenfant said their goal of transforming the jazz hall back into the entertainment hub of Mandeville includes making minor updates to the jazz hall, like installing a fire sprinkler system, performing renovation work on the floors and other small projects.

In time, she said, they would like to host more events than the six planned each year, three in fall and spring because of the extreme heat during summer.

“Eventually we want to create a cultural historic district with the Dew Drop at the center,” Lenfant said. “Currently we’re working with Tulane to help obtain funding for projects. It’s the most significant, historic structure we have in this city.”

It ultimately involves a three-prong mission, she said: further enhancing the sight, educating the community of its value and hosting more venues.