The White Springs Ballroom opened in 1936 on Hwy. 18 just west of McGregor. It was the idea of Archie Fritz who wanted to capitalize on interest in the white sand caves located in the cliff in the back of his property. The hand-hewn caves were originally built to provide cold beer storage for the West McGregor Brewery that began operation on the site in 1857 and operated until the late 1800s. As early as 1933, Fritz started work to make the caves accessible to visitors including hanging electric lights in the caves. The two-story building Fritz constructed on the foundations of the old brewery originally had a ballroom on the second floor and a tavern on the first floor. In the 1940s, ads in newspapers across northeast Iowa advertised the visiting bands for weekly Saturday night dances.

Erwin and Ethel Mann purchased the business in 1949. By the mid-1960s, the focus was more as a dining establishment rather than a dance hall and had been renamed the White Springs Supper Club. An article in the July 26, 1967 Arlington Progressive noted that Mrs. Mann was famous for her Hickory Smoked Barbeque Ribs. For decades, the White Springs Supper Club was a dining destination and a social gathering place for northeast Iowa. After Ethel Mann’s death in 2004, there were a few attempts to continue the legacy of the supper club but today it remains closed and empty.

In addition to the Supper Club building, the site currently also includes the original sand caves, the brick house of former brewer Michael Klein (c. 1895) and a stone garage that was formerly a stable.

Since the closure of the supper club, the buildings on the property have fallen into disrepair and are in danger of being demolished. A portion of the roof of the former stable has already collapsed. The future of the property remains uncertain.