The name Dirty Dozen came into being one Sunday afternoon when the Sandburg brothers and ten of their friends met to have a group photograph taken. They were dressed in suits, vests and neckties. It was a far cry from the times they had played baseball in the dusty street. They recalled their mothers had given strict orders to wash their feet before coming into the house. A quick lift of the pump handle on the backyard cistern was enough of a rinse to satisfy the boys, if not their mothers.

When they were sixteen or seventeen years old, Carl Sandburg and other members of the The Dirty Dozen decided to organize a dance club. They had heard some other teenage boys were holding dances once a month and had named their club The Golden Rod.

Members of the Dirty Dozen decided to name their dancing organization The Monarch Club. It had a fancy sound to their minds. They thought the name carried the cachet of a fifty cent Havana cigar.

Each member contributed twenty-five cents to pay for the hall and musicians. Along Main Street there were many second-floor rooms available to rent for meetings and other activities. A couple of violinists were hired to play music from eight to eleven on the night of the dance.

The young people enjoyed dancing the quadrille, an historic dance with four couples arranged in a square. The different sides of the square took turns performing the various patterns and changing partners in time to the music.

They also danced the polka, a quick dance which was introduced in the United States in the 1840s and was popular into the twentieth century. It is believed to have originated in Eastern Europe. The Schottische, another historical European dance, was also included in the program. A waltz usually followed to allow the dancers to catch their breath. The two-step was probably danced most often during the evening. It was easy to learn and it could be danced to many popular tunes of the day. The dancing closed with the playing of “Home Sweet Home.” Some of the young people went off to a nearby ice cream parlor for refreshment.

Inviting sisters and sweethearts of the club members made a large party of dancers. The girls were dressed in their prettiest garments and every one of them looked charming. The young men were able to show their social manners and dancing ability. They dressed in their best clothes and enjoyed an evening of dancing for a minimal amount of money. More than likely the boys felt they were the most accomplished dancers in Galesburg and looked forward to the next “two-bit” dance.