The “roller skating craze” wheeled into Glens Falls in early 1884, and, for a time, not even a “Great Fire” could deter the “healthy exercise and innocent amusement” trend.
“Roller Skating is apparently destined to become the most popular sport in Glens Falls,” The Morning Star reported, not to mention the inspiration for poetry.
“Twas Tuesday last, the floor like ice. She started fast, and looked real nice. One foot flew out, with a spiteful spot. She gave a shout, and down she sat,” one local versifier mused.
Glens Falls Opera House, home of one of the city’s first roller skating rinks, circa 1884 • Courtesy of The Chapman Museum
Glens Falls was not an enigma.
Some 30,000 roller skating rinks opened around the world in 1883 and 1884.
But the fad was short lived, at least for that era.
About two years later, The Morning Star would proclaim, “Roller skating has had its day.”
Residents of all ages and occupations became preoccupied with the sport.
“Merchants, salesmen and others whose employment produces a strain on their nervous system find roller skating conducive of much good in furnishing cheap and healthful physical exercise.”
Yet there were risks.
“The roller skating craze is invading the precincts of our homes; it distracts the businessman, and has completely upset the usually demure housewife and maidens,” The Morning Star reported. “One of the effects of the craze was seen in a Glen Street store yesterday when a heavy-weight clerk, experimenting on a pair of new skates, lost his equilibrium and sat down rather unceremoniously in the presence of some lady customers.”
Nevertheless, “many distinguished” Glens Falls clergy authorized roller skating during Lent, provided skaters did not skip church services, even though clergy in other regions of the country condemned skating as being too much like dancing.
“It’s approval, through the clergy, rebounds to its honor,” The Glens Falls Daily Times reported.
The local fad started when W.D. Maxwell, an out-of-town promoter, arranged to offer roller skating sessions, beginning March 2, at Meredith B. Little Opera House on Warren Street, one of two prominent auditoriums in Glens Falls.
“Good music will be in attendance. A small admission fee will be charged on the opening night – ladies free.”
Shortly after that, The Glen skating rink opened at Glens Falls Opera House on Glen Street, just north of the Glen Street hill.
Glens Falls Opera House • Courtesy of The Chapman Museum
A third roller skating rink, apparently short lived, opened at a vacant storefront at 104 Glen St.
The enthusiasm spread around the area.
“The (Warrensburg) town meeting excitement is lost in the prospects of a roller skating rink in town,” the Warrensburg correspondent reported in The Morning Star.
Bradley Opera House in Fort Edward began offering skating March 13, with about 75 skaters turning out.
Skating rinks opened at the Wilbur building and at Middleworth Hall at Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, and elsewhere in Washington County.
“The roller skating fever struck Argyle on Friday the 21st (of March), … since which time people of all ages have been seen approaching the town hall with light, elastic step and smiling, joyous countenance,” the Washington County Advertiser reported. “But, alas, the bandaged head and halting gait on the homeward trail told another tale. The epidemic will doubtless soon be over.”
Within months roller skating rinks would open in Chestertown, Fort Ann, Saratoga, Schuylerville, Port Henry, Watertown, and Amsterdam, some of which were operated by Glens Falls entrepreneurs.
The propensity of rinks led to competition.
The manager of the rink at the Wilbur building at Sandy Hill offered free round-trip excursion sleigh transportation from downtown Glens Falls.
Other rinks staged special events such as professional trick skating performances, masquerade parties and potato races – in which a bushel of potatoes was placed on one end of the rink, and an empty basket at the other.
The skater that successfully carried the most potatoes from one basket to the other won.
Roller skating in Glens Falls was temporarily halted when the “Second Great Fire of Glens Falls” swept through downtown on April 28, 1884, destroying Meredith B. Little Opera House and Glens Falls Opera House, among other buildings.
But roller skating would not be stopped for long.
An out-of-town investment group already had plans in the works for construction of a new rink, designed specially for roller skating, at the corner of Wait and Horicon streets.
“The floor will be of yellow birch, which is considered the best and most durable that can be procured,” The Morning Star reported. “The interior will be conveniently arranged, modern style, and lighted with gas throughout.”
Japanese lanterns were hung, bunting put up, and a 13-piece brass band hired for the July 3 grand opening, that featured a trick, fancy and acrobatic skating demonstration by the Nicholas twins of North Adams, Mass.
Between 150 and 200 skaters turned out.
Other nights the rink would draw as many as 250 skaters.
Two other short-lived rinks – The Glen on Warren Street and The Bijou in the Crandall Block, opened in late 1884 or early 1885.
Like Humpty Dumpty in the nursery rhyme, the rink at the corner of Wait and Horicon streets had a great fall.
A year or so after the opening, the owners stopped paying their bills.
“It was run under competent management for some time, but when the roller skating craze commenced to wane, the building was sold at public auction,” The Morning Star reported.
Mrs. M.A. Gould, who owned the land the skating rink was built on, was the buyer.
Gould’s daughter, for a time, attempted to keep the venture operating as a roller skating rink, but the building fell into disrepair.
In early 1887, village officials condemned the building, and on Feb. 27 the roof collapsed around 1 or 2 a.m. due to the weight of heavy snow, and the building had to be demolished.
During its short run, roller skating brought new revenue to area theaters, as roller skating sessions filled nights in between theatrical productions, nights on which the theater otherwise would be dark.
But in the long run, roller skating damaged theater floors and competed with other forms of entertainment.
“The Middleworth Hall floor, which cost between three and four hundred dollars, was of the very best quality of Georgia pine, and which was considered the best floor for dancing purposes in this section of the country, is completely ruined by the roller skating,” the Washington County Advertiser reported.
Whitmore & Clark’s Minstrel Company disbanded in 1884, ending its season $2,000 in the red – the equivalent of about $53,000 in 2020 dollars – the first year the company lost money.
“The company was a strong one, but the skating rinks everywhere took all the change there was laying around loose,” The Morning Star reported.
Skating was blamed for siphoning off revenue from other businesses, such as a barber in Sandy Hill who had to lay off help.
“He alleges as a reason that the young men who heretofore got shaved two or three times a week now only shave once and spend their money at the rink.”
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Sources: The Morning Star Feb. 29, March 5, 8, 14, 15, 20, 22, 24, 29, April 1, 5, 8, 16, 29, June 11, July 3,4, 1884; Jan. 10, 1885; Feb. 25, 1886; Feb. 28, 1857; Glens Falls Daily Times March 11, 1884; Washington County Advertiser, Fort Edward, March 14, 26, 1884
MAURY THOMPSON
Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.
