On February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper played their last performance here as part of the "Winter Dance Party Tour".
That night, they went to nearby Mason City to catch a plane to the Fargo airport to play a show in Moorhead. A 21-year-old pilot had agreed to fly them to Fargo for $36 a piece. Their plane crashed less than six miles from the airport.
This later became known as "The Day the Music Died," which is also a popular song by Don McLean, who drove his Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry.
On September 6, 2011, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
