For decades, patrons of Roseland Ballroom have walked in past the Wall of Fame, which holds the shoes of famous dancers — Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, Betty Grable, James Cagney — and a plaque with names of couples who met dancing at Roseland and went on to marry. They are relics from the many incarnations of Roseland, a name that has been part of New York City night life since 1919. Roseland, which moved to its current location in 1956 with a vaunted deluxe dance floor — maple over cork padding — is to close on April 7 at the end of a string of shows by Lady Gaga, which begin on Friday.

That’s a last burst of modern pop for a club whose history extends through multiple eras and attitudes: segregation and multiracial jazz lineups, historic big bands and “taxi dancers” for hire, grueling Depression-era dance marathons and glittery disco nights, a ban on the twist and, decades later, more than one mosh pit. In recent decades it presented both nostalgic music for dancers and — although its acoustics and sightlines were never ideal — current rock and pop concerts, including shows by superstars scaling down for special occasions: Madonna, Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones. Yet taken as a whole, through the years, what happened on Roseland’s dance floor may have been as significant as anything onstage. Below is a timeline of Roseland’s bumpy history. JON PARELES

1917 With a $20,000 investment from the brewer Frank Yuengling, Louis J. Brecker opened a high-end ballroom at Chestnut and 12th Streets in Philadelphia. Brecker, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate, and his fiancée, Dorothy Faggen, wanted a place where they could dance but wasn’t “overrun by ragtime,” according to “Broadway: An Encyclopedia,” by Ken Bloom.