Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: Bal-A-Roue Facebook fan page.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: Google.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: Bal-A-Roue Facebook fan page.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: Bal-A-Roue Facebook fan page.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: Bal-A-Roue Facebook fan page.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts. Source: YouTube/Harold Harriman.
Bal-A-Roue 376 Mystic Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts
Bal-A-Roue was a long time skating rink most of the 20tn Century. Some say it was open as far back as 1915 according to sources on this The Somerville Times newspaper article originally dated on October 6, 2010 written by Jimmy Del Ponte.
But some say it was opened later as 1930s until 1980s. It was vague on the date and year. However, a report on Bizapedia, it said it was filed as a profit corporation on October 19, 1951 as BAL-A-ROUE ROLLAWAY, INC. (all caps on purpose by that website). Must be when they had a new owner at the time which was Raoul Bernie until 1966. The owner prior to Raoul was Fred H. Freeman from 1930s to 1951. There are no information prior to 1930s that goes back to 1915. More information will be needed.
After Raoul Bernie, it was Mr. & Mrs. George Pyche, the new owner-operator until mid-1980s.
The building was quite modern for its day. Looks 1950s. It may have been a second location because of commentary from Mary Pyche at the Bal-A-Roue Facebook page:
"From my memory (and George's) the structure of the rink was transported from West
Medford as a MTA bus turnaround garage and it was cut into sections and brought to the
Mystic Avenue location to be used as a building to build boats. The property was owned
along with most of the area around Wellington Circle by the Hall family who were big in
real estate and still are. Then someone bought the lease and converted it into a roller
skating rink and a couple of years later Fred Freeman (about 1937) ran it"
Bal-A-Roue was quite a storied skating rink because of numerous of historic figure skating, couple skating, ballroom skating, and seemly mostly adults skate than children. There were children of course but like many other yesteryear's rinks of 20th Century before the Roller Disco and children skating, it was all about roller dances including ballroom, figure skating, and more.
It was rather quite modern building of its day since 1930s that it was not arched. It was rather standard truss roof line. Almost flat though. There was an A-Frame front fused into standard front with the design. It was quite unusual for this rink or even the building itself to have a A-Frame fused into standard cinder-block building.
The rink apparently was made of wood as the quote said above. It was a garage at one point before it was converted to a rink then currently a bank headquarters with drive through windows.
The A-Frame is gone and that was the front door. Now it is a drive-thru teller window with ATM for sure.
Their new door is on the side of the former rink building and is attached to the Alisee Pattee-cross pattern (as seen from top view) multi-story bank offices.
The rink held championships, tournaments, and more.
An awesome You-Tube history of Bal-A-Roue is shown in video above.
Now it is a bank connecting the old to the new bank tower for offices.
UPDATE!
I received an email with more details about this rink (and a few others which will be also corrected or added eventually). This is from a CF Here is what CF has to say --
The Bal-A-Roue was outside of Boston. The Bal-A-Roue was originally opened about 1943 in a
partnership between Fred Freeman and Fred Bergin and a significant part of the growth of the
RSROA can be traced to the Bal-A-Roue. Fred Freeman did not own a rink prior to somewhere
between th '29 crash and 1931 as he slowly converted his three dance halls in the Boston area to
roller rinks, following the trend and lead of the likes of William Brown's Southgate dance hall in
Seattle, WA and Victor Brown's original Dreamland park in Newark, NJ. to highlight a couple of
many dance halls to roller rink conversions. You also have comments for the Mineola rink which in
fact held the first RSROA dance Nationals in 1939 and then--in a couple of years--partnered in the
breaking apart of the RSROA into two associations: RSROA and USARSA only to come back together
in 1973.
The Interior.
It appeared to be Wood floor with either wood or steel posts on edge of the rink plus trusses. Hard to see. it appeared to be early 20th Century built.
Likely they had renovations throughout the decades until 1980s.
The Exterior.
They had interesting mix of architecture for that building. They had Montior style roof with extended Gabled. All Gabled except for the front entrance which was in fact A-Frame style. This was quite awkward in style for this rink building. The colors have changed a lot.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Likely wood. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still standing, now as bank offices.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: N/A.
Operations: Around 1943 to mid-1980s.
Reason for Closure: N/A
Wanted: Information regarding EXACT dates, more photos.
Sources:
Bal-A-Roue Facebook Page
The Somerville Times
YouTube (See link on video).
Bizapedia,
Worth to visit:
None.
DISCLAIMER:
Dead-Rinks and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. 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.
Date of issue: 2019.
Update: 2020.
Update: 24 May 2022.
For office use only: 6.
Disclaimer: 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 differences result between two 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.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks 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: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7
But some say it was opened later as 1930s until 1980s. It was vague on the date and year. However, a report on Bizapedia, it said it was filed as a profit corporation on October 19, 1951 as BAL-A-ROUE ROLLAWAY, INC. (all caps on purpose by that website). Must be when they had a new owner at the time which was Raoul Bernie until 1966. The owner prior to Raoul was Fred H. Freeman from 1930s to 1951. There are no information prior to 1930s that goes back to 1915. More information will be needed.
After Raoul Bernie, it was Mr. & Mrs. George Pyche, the new owner-operator until mid-1980s.
The building was quite modern for its day. Looks 1950s. It may have been a second location because of commentary from Mary Pyche at the Bal-A-Roue Facebook page:
"From my memory (and George's) the structure of the rink was transported from West
Medford as a MTA bus turnaround garage and it was cut into sections and brought to the
Mystic Avenue location to be used as a building to build boats. The property was owned
along with most of the area around Wellington Circle by the Hall family who were big in
real estate and still are. Then someone bought the lease and converted it into a roller
skating rink and a couple of years later Fred Freeman (about 1937) ran it"
Bal-A-Roue was quite a storied skating rink because of numerous of historic figure skating, couple skating, ballroom skating, and seemly mostly adults skate than children. There were children of course but like many other yesteryear's rinks of 20th Century before the Roller Disco and children skating, it was all about roller dances including ballroom, figure skating, and more.
It was rather quite modern building of its day since 1930s that it was not arched. It was rather standard truss roof line. Almost flat though. There was an A-Frame front fused into standard front with the design. It was quite unusual for this rink or even the building itself to have a A-Frame fused into standard cinder-block building.
The rink apparently was made of wood as the quote said above. It was a garage at one point before it was converted to a rink then currently a bank headquarters with drive through windows.
The A-Frame is gone and that was the front door. Now it is a drive-thru teller window with ATM for sure.
Their new door is on the side of the former rink building and is attached to the Alisee Pattee-cross pattern (as seen from top view) multi-story bank offices.
The rink held championships, tournaments, and more.
An awesome You-Tube history of Bal-A-Roue is shown in video above.
Now it is a bank connecting the old to the new bank tower for offices.
UPDATE!
I received an email with more details about this rink (and a few others which will be also corrected or added eventually). This is from a CF Here is what CF has to say --
The Bal-A-Roue was outside of Boston. The Bal-A-Roue was originally opened about 1943 in a
partnership between Fred Freeman and Fred Bergin and a significant part of the growth of the
RSROA can be traced to the Bal-A-Roue. Fred Freeman did not own a rink prior to somewhere
between th '29 crash and 1931 as he slowly converted his three dance halls in the Boston area to
roller rinks, following the trend and lead of the likes of William Brown's Southgate dance hall in
Seattle, WA and Victor Brown's original Dreamland park in Newark, NJ. to highlight a couple of
many dance halls to roller rink conversions. You also have comments for the Mineola rink which in
fact held the first RSROA dance Nationals in 1939 and then--in a couple of years--partnered in the
breaking apart of the RSROA into two associations: RSROA and USARSA only to come back together
in 1973.
The Interior.
It appeared to be Wood floor with either wood or steel posts on edge of the rink plus trusses. Hard to see. it appeared to be early 20th Century built.
Likely they had renovations throughout the decades until 1980s.
The Exterior.
They had interesting mix of architecture for that building. They had Montior style roof with extended Gabled. All Gabled except for the front entrance which was in fact A-Frame style. This was quite awkward in style for this rink building. The colors have changed a lot.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Likely wood. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still standing, now as bank offices.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: N/A.
Operations: Around 1943 to mid-1980s.
Reason for Closure: N/A
Wanted: Information regarding EXACT dates, more photos.
Sources:
Bal-A-Roue Facebook Page
The Somerville Times
YouTube (See link on video).
Bizapedia,
Worth to visit:
None.
DISCLAIMER:
Dead-Rinks and Mark Falso are not responsible for your physical and legal injuries you may have caused. 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.
Date of issue: 2019.
Update: 2020.
Update: 24 May 2022.
For office use only: 6.
Disclaimer: 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 differences result between two 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.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks 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: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7