12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. The day of the fire Monday 30 April 1951. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook, 19 February 2016.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. It showed different corner but same place. Let me explain that in next photo. Source: Google.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. To compare where the rink was. This would help fans like you to know exactly where it was. Thanks to age old buildings still standing today. Source: Google and Facebook. © Copyrighted Digitally Remastered and College by International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation©, an International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group. All Rights Reserved.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. First floor rendering of the old market drawn by Dave Warren on Facebook. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. The roller rink on second floor. It also had bowling alley. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. A fire fighter looks on from second floor fire exit door. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. After the fire. Residents of Erie, PA walks home disappointed or sad. Poor little girl on the left could not skate there anymore and her parents were sad too. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. After the fire. Well dressed businesspeople going to work in the morning walked by the former market, rink, and bowling place after the fire. . Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. Patch. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. After the fire. Residents of Erie, PA walks home disappointed or sad. Poor little girl on the left could not skate there anymore and her parents were sad too. Source: Erie's History and Memorabilia on Facebook.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. Was listed in the directory, not a phone book. Just business listing. Source: Erie Directory. Page 841, 1st Column, 1939. Year unknown.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. Grocery store ad. Source: Old Erie.
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA. To see in better view, click the picture. Source: The Erie Daily Times - Monday 30 April 1951. Headline story.
12th Street Market 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA
Commodore Bowling 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA
Commodore Bowling 12th Street at French Street, Erie, PA
12th Street Market Rink 12th Street at French Street, Erie, Pennsylvania was operational on 2nd floor of this massive multistory building. It was a multi-purpose building. Kind of a fusion for this place. It was like a farmer's market/grocery store with vendors that vendors personally were present to sell their food and merchandise related to grocery. Almost a farmer's market meets Walmart meets a Lifestyle Center- that is upstairs were full of entertainment. That is, the roller rink and bowling ally. The dual entertainment center were on 2nd floor.
The market/grocery store had 350 vendors! They also had 500 parking spaces for both vendors and customers although many also rode the bus and other public transportation to the market.
They likely opened in 1927 but I have no proof--yet. But they all closed due to a massive fire that destroyed the block-sized building in 1951.
The building was excellent vehicle for vendors to sell under well enclosured building in 4 seasons area where they usually have Lake Effect Snow and many extreme weather changes. It was well designed to be fully enclosured not like a tiny open air farmers market but more like a grocery store of its era.
Vendors and shoppers would also hear the sounds of music and rolling sounds of skates and bowling as the rink and bowling alley were on second floor. it would echo the sound. Try that with wooden and metal wheels along with organ music and as for bowling balls drops hard and rumble down the Maple lane and shatter the pins. Those two places do echo where skating and bowling patrons would make.
During WWII, when a shipment of coffee would arrived late in the day, coffee vendors would spend a few hours after closing pre-grinding the bags of beans in preparation for the lines of people coming in the morning for that scarce and rationed item. Customers could enter through doors on French Street, East 12th or East 13th Street. Vendors received shipments on the Commerce Street side and kept their stock farm-fresh. Cars were parked in a lot in the lower level. Some people would buy live chickens in the southwest corner of the market.
Familiar vendors include Scolio and Del Porto (fruit); Urbaniak Brothers, Rudy Voss and Joyce Brothers (meat); Picardo (horse radish) and the Balkan Baking Company.
Many People came from all over the city to shop at the 12th Street Market. They also came in droves to the market’s conflagration, when it was struck by lightning. Eleven fire departments fought the consuming fire. Twelfth Street was jammed with people, almost from curb to curb, as the many clubs in the area were emptied of their members; and the late movie had just ended at nearby theaters. Daylight brought even more people to the scene. About 15 policemen were on duty keeping thousands of curious people out of the gutted structure. Traffic on 12th Street was in a continual snarl due to motorists who drove by to see the burned-out shell of a building. Apparently because of them hearing the fire crackle, sirens, automobile honking horns, and can see massive smoke sky high and followed where the fire was. Since this building was massive, the fire was actually widespread.
The rink operators were Alpha O. Johnston and Hyatt D. Ruhlman according to Erie Directory.
The Interior.
All wooden floor. It had likely Maple but not sure. It pretty much wall to wall on one section of the entire building. Making it pretty massive. It shared on the second floor with a bowling alley. Likely the bowling had Maple as well. I am not sure. I read somewhere on Facebook that it had organ music.
There were posts to support the roof considering this building was quite an open space on each floor.
The Exterior.
It was a bright (maybe White) building that was a Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building with a ZigZag Roof. it was not that old building that was destroyed by a lighting in 1951. No one died or injured from this fire that I do not know of.
The 110 firefighters did well kept the fire inside and douse it out only damaged the interior, floors, and roof but leaving only trusses and the shell-- walls around the building. It was clearly made of Cinderblocks. Only too few were minor injured. All taken to hospital and treated and released.
After the fire, it became several commercial businesses in this Steel-Walled Warehouse-like building today. Thanks to the 2 markings I found on the old photograph: Including this 3 story very long Brick building which is now a charter school (see photo college). Also see the painted sign on the Brick wall. It matches. It appears to be a plaza today with a couple of Asian and an unique BBQ restaurant.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 100' x 143' Floor: Non-painted Maple(?) Floor Layout: Appeared to be FAN.
Building Size: N/A. (from seen in photos, big!) Built: 1927. Renovations: Likely None. Demolished: 1951 Destroyed by fire - hit by lighting which caused the fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: ZigZag.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: They had one but brand/model unknown..
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: Number of lanes unknown.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: N/A.
Amusement Rides: None.
Driving Range Slots: None.
Miniature Golf Course: None.
Arcade: Likely none.
Skee-Ball: Likely none.
Fascination: None.
Restaurant: None.
Cocktail lounge: None.
Laser Tag: None.
Bounce Houses: None.
Bumper Cars: None.
Go-Kart: None.
Motel: None.
Swimming Pool: None.
Jungle Gym Playground: None.
Skate Park: None.
Operated: (Overall)-- (for all 3- the market, rink, and bowling) 1937 to 1951.
Reason for Closure: (For all 3- the market, rink, and bowling) Destroyed by fire hit by lighting.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also, photos/articles. Also send me any updates such as reopening, sold, name changes, or whatsoever occurred with this rink or any rinks. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© Before you email, please state this rink name AND THE CITY AND STATE (or COUNTRY) so I can know where or what rink you are talking about. Thank you. We welcome both active and defunct rinks.
Sources:
Old Time Erie - 12th Street Market grocery store advertisement.
eBay - Patch
Picclick - Patch
Facebook - Massive Fire photo and description regarding to the fire.
Facebook - Rink itself in 1938.
Erie History - History about the fire.
Go Erie - fire almost entire front page of newspaper.
The Erie Daily Times - Monday 30 April 1951. Headline story. (zoom to read the articles if desired). Unfortunately, I am unable to retrieve other pages. But you have plenty to read on the cover of the newspaper. Yes, there are several articles related to the fire.
Erie Directory - Page 846, first column, 1939.
Date of issue: 12 September 2022.
For office use only: 13.
Worth to visit:
None. Massive fire in 1951 destroyed the rink along with everything else.
DISCLAIMER:
International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© (formerly known as Dead-Rinks) and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. We do not endorse such illegal activities including breaking and entry of former rinks, malls, abandoned buildings, etc. Please always obey laws and regulations and property owner's signs. Some states allow purple paint on fence which means they even have guns on their property and have rights to shoot you. Please DO NOT attempt to enter property without permission!
For abandoned rinks, after you receive permission, do WEAR safety OSHA equipment including a safety glasses, pair of safety gloves, an orange vest or a jacket, and a construction helmet.
Thank you for understanding.
Dead Rinks is now International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© because many former names have become new names at the same rinks that are still active and due to much confusion, We have decided that International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© fits better for all rinks including defunct, closed, inactive, rebooted, and rinks that are still active today. For short on this site, it is International Roller Skating Rinks History© Bear with us as we change the entire site page by page each day. Thank you for understanding.
Second of all: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with different results between two (or more) sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
Rinks that are closed are considered dead. Rinks that are/were sold and with new management names new name(s), the former are considered dead. Previous operating rink that closed but came back years later, are considered dead because the reopening is considered rebooted, nothing to do with the former. Since we are rebooted to allow alive rinks, active rinks, we welcome those active rinks as well. It will be described.
As for “For Office Only” is for my reasoning and private legal reason for that.
Any music associated with any YouTube or any other videos provided on International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© are not the property of Dead-Rinks therefore we do not own the rights to the music.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved become property of International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Disclaimer.
© Copyrighted by International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation©, an International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7.
The market/grocery store had 350 vendors! They also had 500 parking spaces for both vendors and customers although many also rode the bus and other public transportation to the market.
They likely opened in 1927 but I have no proof--yet. But they all closed due to a massive fire that destroyed the block-sized building in 1951.
The building was excellent vehicle for vendors to sell under well enclosured building in 4 seasons area where they usually have Lake Effect Snow and many extreme weather changes. It was well designed to be fully enclosured not like a tiny open air farmers market but more like a grocery store of its era.
Vendors and shoppers would also hear the sounds of music and rolling sounds of skates and bowling as the rink and bowling alley were on second floor. it would echo the sound. Try that with wooden and metal wheels along with organ music and as for bowling balls drops hard and rumble down the Maple lane and shatter the pins. Those two places do echo where skating and bowling patrons would make.
During WWII, when a shipment of coffee would arrived late in the day, coffee vendors would spend a few hours after closing pre-grinding the bags of beans in preparation for the lines of people coming in the morning for that scarce and rationed item. Customers could enter through doors on French Street, East 12th or East 13th Street. Vendors received shipments on the Commerce Street side and kept their stock farm-fresh. Cars were parked in a lot in the lower level. Some people would buy live chickens in the southwest corner of the market.
Familiar vendors include Scolio and Del Porto (fruit); Urbaniak Brothers, Rudy Voss and Joyce Brothers (meat); Picardo (horse radish) and the Balkan Baking Company.
Many People came from all over the city to shop at the 12th Street Market. They also came in droves to the market’s conflagration, when it was struck by lightning. Eleven fire departments fought the consuming fire. Twelfth Street was jammed with people, almost from curb to curb, as the many clubs in the area were emptied of their members; and the late movie had just ended at nearby theaters. Daylight brought even more people to the scene. About 15 policemen were on duty keeping thousands of curious people out of the gutted structure. Traffic on 12th Street was in a continual snarl due to motorists who drove by to see the burned-out shell of a building. Apparently because of them hearing the fire crackle, sirens, automobile honking horns, and can see massive smoke sky high and followed where the fire was. Since this building was massive, the fire was actually widespread.
The rink operators were Alpha O. Johnston and Hyatt D. Ruhlman according to Erie Directory.
The Interior.
All wooden floor. It had likely Maple but not sure. It pretty much wall to wall on one section of the entire building. Making it pretty massive. It shared on the second floor with a bowling alley. Likely the bowling had Maple as well. I am not sure. I read somewhere on Facebook that it had organ music.
There were posts to support the roof considering this building was quite an open space on each floor.
The Exterior.
It was a bright (maybe White) building that was a Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building with a ZigZag Roof. it was not that old building that was destroyed by a lighting in 1951. No one died or injured from this fire that I do not know of.
The 110 firefighters did well kept the fire inside and douse it out only damaged the interior, floors, and roof but leaving only trusses and the shell-- walls around the building. It was clearly made of Cinderblocks. Only too few were minor injured. All taken to hospital and treated and released.
After the fire, it became several commercial businesses in this Steel-Walled Warehouse-like building today. Thanks to the 2 markings I found on the old photograph: Including this 3 story very long Brick building which is now a charter school (see photo college). Also see the painted sign on the Brick wall. It matches. It appears to be a plaza today with a couple of Asian and an unique BBQ restaurant.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 100' x 143' Floor: Non-painted Maple(?) Floor Layout: Appeared to be FAN.
Building Size: N/A. (from seen in photos, big!) Built: 1927. Renovations: Likely None. Demolished: 1951 Destroyed by fire - hit by lighting which caused the fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: ZigZag.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: They had one but brand/model unknown..
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: Number of lanes unknown.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: N/A.
Amusement Rides: None.
Driving Range Slots: None.
Miniature Golf Course: None.
Arcade: Likely none.
Skee-Ball: Likely none.
Fascination: None.
Restaurant: None.
Cocktail lounge: None.
Laser Tag: None.
Bounce Houses: None.
Bumper Cars: None.
Go-Kart: None.
Motel: None.
Swimming Pool: None.
Jungle Gym Playground: None.
Skate Park: None.
Operated: (Overall)-- (for all 3- the market, rink, and bowling) 1937 to 1951.
Reason for Closure: (For all 3- the market, rink, and bowling) Destroyed by fire hit by lighting.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also, photos/articles. Also send me any updates such as reopening, sold, name changes, or whatsoever occurred with this rink or any rinks. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© Before you email, please state this rink name AND THE CITY AND STATE (or COUNTRY) so I can know where or what rink you are talking about. Thank you. We welcome both active and defunct rinks.
Sources:
Old Time Erie - 12th Street Market grocery store advertisement.
eBay - Patch
Picclick - Patch
Facebook - Massive Fire photo and description regarding to the fire.
Facebook - Rink itself in 1938.
Erie History - History about the fire.
Go Erie - fire almost entire front page of newspaper.
The Erie Daily Times - Monday 30 April 1951. Headline story. (zoom to read the articles if desired). Unfortunately, I am unable to retrieve other pages. But you have plenty to read on the cover of the newspaper. Yes, there are several articles related to the fire.
Erie Directory - Page 846, first column, 1939.
Date of issue: 12 September 2022.
For office use only: 13.
Worth to visit:
None. Massive fire in 1951 destroyed the rink along with everything else.
DISCLAIMER:
International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© (formerly known as Dead-Rinks) and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. We do not endorse such illegal activities including breaking and entry of former rinks, malls, abandoned buildings, etc. Please always obey laws and regulations and property owner's signs. Some states allow purple paint on fence which means they even have guns on their property and have rights to shoot you. Please DO NOT attempt to enter property without permission!
For abandoned rinks, after you receive permission, do WEAR safety OSHA equipment including a safety glasses, pair of safety gloves, an orange vest or a jacket, and a construction helmet.
Thank you for understanding.
Dead Rinks is now International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© because many former names have become new names at the same rinks that are still active and due to much confusion, We have decided that International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© fits better for all rinks including defunct, closed, inactive, rebooted, and rinks that are still active today. For short on this site, it is International Roller Skating Rinks History© Bear with us as we change the entire site page by page each day. Thank you for understanding.
Second of all: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with different results between two (or more) sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
Rinks that are closed are considered dead. Rinks that are/were sold and with new management names new name(s), the former are considered dead. Previous operating rink that closed but came back years later, are considered dead because the reopening is considered rebooted, nothing to do with the former. Since we are rebooted to allow alive rinks, active rinks, we welcome those active rinks as well. It will be described.
As for “For Office Only” is for my reasoning and private legal reason for that.
Any music associated with any YouTube or any other videos provided on International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© are not the property of Dead-Rinks therefore we do not own the rights to the music.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved become property of International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Disclaimer.
© Copyrighted by International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation©, an International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7.