Hamilton Lodge Ball, Recognized As The First Drag Ball In The United States, 1869-1937

By HWM

The Hamilton Lodge Ball aka “Rockland Palace” was an annual cross-dressing ball on 280 West 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Avenues, in Harlem, New York.

The Lodge’s ball in 1869 was recognized as the first drag ball in United States history. The Hamilton Lodge Ball reached the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, as the Harlem Renaissance and Pansy Craze drew wealthy white New Yorkers and celebrities into Harlem nightlife.

19th century

In 1842, the Philomathean Institute, a fraternal organization of free Black men, petitioned to form an aligned lodge of American Odd Fellows, but were denied because they were Black. Peter Ogden, a Black sailor and member of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, helped the men to form Hamilton Lodge #710 of the Grand United Order, which opened in February 1844 in Harlem. In 1869, for the Lodge’s 25th anniversary, their first annual Masquerade and Civic Ball was held at the Rockland Palace Banquet Hall & Casino. This is the first recorded ball in Harlem where men dressed as women, and it is believed to be the first drag ball in the United States.

The balls grew in size, and in a March 1886 article, the New York Freeman described the Hamilton Lodge Ball as “the event of the season.” Around this same time, drag balls gained popularity in other cities in the United States, including balls in Washington D.C. organized by William Dorsey Swann. 

According to historian Michael Henry Adams, the balls were originally organized by straight men; however, they became a way for non-straight people to appear publicly in drag.

Early 1900s

As the drag balls grew in popularity, demands emerged to investigate possible violations of public immorality. In New York City, the Committee of Fourteen investigated the balls, releasing a report in 1916 describing scenes of “male perverts” who looked like women. 

Nevertheless, these “Faggots Balls” or “Fairies Balls” continued, and prizes would even be given to the “most perfect feminine body displayed by an impersonator.” The balls in New York City drew people from all over the United States.

1920s

In the 1920s during the Prohibition Era, Harlem underwent a cultural revitalization as the Harlem Renaissance marked an upsurge in arts, literature, and culture. At the same time, the Pansy Craze in New York created popular interest in drag performances.

As a result of these two cultural phenomena, the Hamilton Lodge Ball dramatically increased in popularity, attracting up to 8,000 dancers and spectators at the peak of its popularity. 

The poet Langston Hughes wrote, “During the height of the New Negro era and the tourist invasion of Harlem, it was fashionable for the intelligentsia and the social leaders of both Harlem and the downtown area to occupy boxes at this ball and look down from above at the queerly assorted throng on the dancing floor.” The balls were racially integrated, and though New York State law criminalized cross-dressing, police officers worked at the balls to arrest any troublemakers.

Chad Heap, a history professor at George Washington University, stated, “It’s pretty amazing just how widespread these balls were. Almost every newspaper article about them lists 20 to 30 well-known people of the day who were in attendance as spectators. It was a widely integrated part of life in the 1920s and 30s.” 

Contemporaneous news accounts described Hamilton Lodge Ball as a “Scene of Splendor,” with quotes such as, “The masculine women and feminine men, how are you going to tell the roosters from the hens?”

1930s

In the mid-1930s, a heavy backlash against LGBT people occurred during the Great Depression. The NYPD, which officiated the balls in the 1920s, began arresting participants for indecency, vagrancy, and female impersonation in the mid-1930s. 

As the cultural reaction against LGBT visibility grew, a sex-crime panic emerged, and gay men and lesbians were seen as dangerous to society. Despite this, the 1936 ball had roughly 5500 attendees.

The Harlem Lodge held its final ball on February 26, 1937, described as “a grand jamboree of dancing, lovemaking, display, rivalry, drinking, and advertisement.” About 1000 people (of the roughly 5000 attendees) competed in the costume contest. 

The following year the Hamilton Lodge Ball ended, described by The New York Age with the headline “Fifteen Arrested By Police as ‘Fairies’ Turn ‘Em On.”

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