National Historic Landmarks (NHL) are historic places that hold national significance. The Secretary of the Interior designates nationally significant resources as exceptional because of their abilitiy to illustrate U.S. heritage.
The question is often raised … how is the National Historic Landmark program different than the National Register of Historic Places? Where an historic resource can be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in association with historical events or architecture significant at the local and/or state level, NHLs bear significance at the national level. As a result, there are far fewer National Historic Landmarks (approximately 2,600) than National Register listed resources (some 90,000). While the nomination process is similar between the programs, a NHL nomination requires an elevated level of research and comparative analyses and typically takes a considerably longer period of time for preparation, review, and approval.
In early 2021, the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa became just the 27th National Historic Landmark in the state of Iowa.
For more information on the National Historic Landmark Program please visit the following:
https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1582/index.htm
Surf Ballroom Clear Lake, Iowa
From its 1948 construction on the shores of Clear Lake, Iowa through the present day, the Surf Ballroom has continuously served the regional Midwest. Over the course of 70+ years of operation, the Surf Ballroom has featured musical acts spanning from the 1940s Big Band sound to the cross-section of country, rock, and tribute bands that appear on its stage today. Through those many years, some of the nation’s most significant musicians, representing a variety of musical genres, appeared at the Surf Ballroom, including the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, the Beach Boys, BB King, Conway Twitty, Santana, REO Speedwagon, ZZ Top, Martina McBride, and Alice Cooper.
Within that broad-ranging history, the Surf Ballroom’s legacy is specifically bound up in the early history of rock ‘n’ roll music. On February 2, 1959, the Surf Ballroom was the twelfth stop on a 25-venue tour promoted as the Winter Dance Party. This regional tour brought together multiple, top-charting performers for a series of one-night performances. The Winter Dance Party was headlined by Buddy Holly who, at the time, had multiple hit songs to his credit, including “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day”; Ritchie Valens, whose double-sided release had both “Donna” and “La Bamba” heading up the charts; Dion and the Belmonts, with “I Wonder Why” and “No One Knows”; and, J.P., “The Big Bopper” Richardson, whose “Chantilly Lace” was gaining airtime and would soon be burning up the charts.
In the early morning hours following their performance at the Surf Ballroom, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash just north of Clear Lake. As the final performance venue of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P., “The Big Bopper” Richardson, the Surf Ballroom has become universally recognized by fans across the U.S. and abroad as the location most intimately tied to the musical legacies of these three performers. Further, through the continuation of the Winter Dance Party, the Surf Ballroom is not only the place where people go to honor the legacy of the performers, it is the place they go to experience the Winter Dance Party very much as it was experienced on that winter day of 1959.
The Surf Ballroom was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September of 2011. The National Historic Landmark nomination process was completed in December, 2020 and designation of the Surf Ballroom as a National Historic Landmark is anticipated for January 2021.