The grounds for Long Point Amusement Park. This photo appeared to be taken in 1980s. On the right was the skating rink. Photo courtesy of Craig Holberton.
The advertisement for the new rink opened at Long Point Park. Photo courtesy of Craig Holberton
The aerial view of the rink and the park. Photo still courtesy of YouTube.
Fraley's Roller Rink Long Point Amusement Park, Geneseo, NY
Fraley's Long Point Park Long Point Amusement Park, Geneseo, NY
Long Point Amusement Park Roller Rink Long Point Amusement Park, Geneseo, NY
Fraley's Long Point Park Long Point Amusement Park, Geneseo, NY
Long Point Amusement Park Roller Rink Long Point Amusement Park, Geneseo, NY
This is one of a many amusement parks (as well as trolley/ferry parks) having roller rink back the day. In fact, this one last one of the longest and oldest right up to its fire destruction in 1988.
Before I go on, was Fraley's part of Long Point Amusement Park or not? It was at same location at the same year.
It was originally a dance hall as part of the Long Point Amusement Park. True that the first actual dance hall was built in 1898 on Conesus Lake, one of the fingers like lakes in the Finger Lakes region in Western/Central New York. The park was located in Geneseo, NY, way passed South of the New York State Thruway where many Residents from Rochester, NY would spend summers at the lake. Also enjoy at the amusement park. It was not a Trolley and Ferry Park per se because it was not classified according to articles I read. that a trolley would travel this far from the City of Rochester, NY. Rochester has their own Trolley Park anyway which is Seabreeze, one of the oldest Trolley Park still in operational in the United States. For you fans wanting to enjoy visiting Rochester, you should check out the oldest Trolley Park, Seabreeze which is in Irondequoit, Northeast of the City of Rochester, by Lake Ontario. A trolley park is..
However, the Erie Railway Railroad and Conesus Lake Railroad Company had trains, not trolleys. They provided a local train ride, not trolleys to a point on the northern tip of the lake and had ferries for passengers to ride to the Grove and the new amusement park at the time. So, it is sort of a Ferry Park, not a Trolley Park.
This park drew 10,000 patrons to the Park per day. A far cry from Disney World with much larger number. haha. But it was a good number per day at the time. In fact, In 1901, 20,000 people attended the Livingston County Picnic (Festival) at Long Point Park.
About the dance hall in 1898, it became the boathouse that is still in existence. You should visit that building as well as the old Bingo Hall building that are well preserved after the 1980s fire that destroyed most buildings. But also great to sit and relax at that park after you have traveled around the country finding old rinks using the list from Dead-Rinks. It does look beautiful there.
It was actually the next generation dance hall that served as a roller rink for two generations or so. The new hall was built in 1923 and that was the place where dancing was featured first before they slowly added roller skating.
The park itself grew and added activities such as mini-golf, picnics, activities, live orchestra, amusement rides and of course, arcade games. But of course the dance hall was the main attraction. Even beginning in 1936, they would have a brand new Chevrolet give away at the end of the summer season as a prize. This touted a local dealer, Conlon & O'Leary Motors that they had a brand new Packard to give away at the end of the season from 1937 till 1941.
Due to the Big War, World War II, the park had to close by orders in 1943. (You know that if you open, you had to pay war taxes based on how much income as a "fine" Sound familiar? Yes, COVID!) Yes, Skaters, they had a lockdown at the time!
Finally roller skating was introduced in the dance hall in 1949 season. Margaret Berry and her assistant, Carl Johnston, the owner of the park introduced skating but retained some dancing special events with live bands. The two were likely operators while Reverdy Wadsworth was the owner of the building.
But it was Summer and Mary Fraley operated the rink in 1949 to mid-1960s. The Farleys hired Phil, the manager of the rink to even be floor guard. Mary played the organ.
Years later, in February 1958, the heavy snow caused the arch roof to collapse. Likely it was a Free-Span roof they put in 1926. Not only that, it was age. During the winter, the hall acted as a winter storage building for the amusement park rides that was owned and operated by Steven LaGrou for 11 years before he bought the whole amusement park including the hall/rink building. He did not see another incident was coming.
Work to rebuilt the rink/dance hall was immediately built by this lumber company, Bernhardt Lumber Yards of Hemlock, NY who was willing to help out quickly rebuilt the building in three short months to make it in time for season opening. After the rebuilt was completed, it was primarily roller skating because of dancing was on decline.
The rink was rebuilt using the arch again. Perhaps much stronger.
Carl Johnston retired in 1967 prompt the ride operator John LaGrou to purchase the entire park and operated entirely.
However, like many amusement parks on decline due to highways, theme parks opening, and better transportation such as flying, people were able to go further and what hurt the park the most were the fires of Saturday July 23, 1988 that began in none other than the rink. Someone heard it sounded like a grinding stone coming from that direction and discovered it was a fire.
Because of the situation unaware of and the fire department only had one truck, they send one truck to fight a massive fire which was not enough and by the time another one came, it was too late, already spread to other buildings. And the rink was in total destruction. Smoke was seen miles away and drew boaters on the lake to come closer to see the destruction occur because it was not accessible due to much fire engines, pumpers, and ladders were there. Many people in the neighborhood and far came to see it gone. This was the end of the rink.
Because of SKEE BALL and FIVE-O concessions were housed in attached building next to the rink, they were gone too.
Children cried because they were hoping to get a bigger and better prizes to win by saving up all those SKEE BALL tickets. I know how they feel. Its tough to do that and never know when they are closing!
The property was purchased by the Town of Geneseo and sold off the rides and whatever left of the park in 1990. Converted to a beauty park with beautiful green grass, by the lake, and have a live weekly band play music there. But it is not the same as it was before.
The reason the park could not be rebuilt is because the owner did not have fire insurance for the park.
Original building --
The Interior.
Since they had no air conditioning, they had open windows on all four sides and they use that as to cool down because of the hot muggy NY weather during summer time (especially end of May to start of September). For sure they had posts for support on the trusses and roof however, the snow fall.. it caused collapse. This is upstate NY region from Buffalo to Rome-Utica or known as the NYS Thruway/I-90 snow band corridor which usually very heavy moist snow falls from Erie Pa to Albany.
Anyway, it was like a shelter inside with that feel. You would know that by being at a park (town, county, or state parks they have them). This is very similar.
The Exterior.
It acts as building but it has all four sides of window shutters and opened up as it is an open building or a shelter-like. The side of building ran parallel to the lake giving end to end of windows open during summer for dancers and later, skaters to enjoy the view and nice lake breeze on hot NY muggy evenings. The roof originally had Peaked Roof but between 1923 and 1926, they switched to the Segmental Arch roof design.
That building was destroyed in 1958.
The Stats:
Rink Size: (Opinion) 60' x 100'. Floor: Non-painted, polished Maple. Floor Layout: Likely Straight..
Building Size: 75' x 125' / 9,375 SF (very small). Built: 1923.
Demolished: February 7, 1958 due to Heavy snowfall caused roof collapsed pulling down side walls.
Type of Building: Wood span trusses wood walled with open windows shelter - like Building.
Roof: Originally when they built in 1923, it was Peaked roof but before 1926, replaced with Segmental Arch roof.
The Rebuilt --
The Interior.
Being all wood again built by the lumber yard, of course, Maple. Straight? I am not sure. But of course Maple floor. When there are two different kind of happenings. For roller skating, they had to put down Pumice Resin Powder for skaters to have better grips on their metal (or even wood) skate wheels. But for dancing, they grate bars of Wax to the floor and buff it to make it slippery for dancing.
The Exterior.
Echo from the original, they even had a higher pitch Segmental Arch building with opening like the original facing the shore line of the lake. Bigger porch than the original and canopy to protect from rain. It appeared to be White like the original was based on original surviving buildings in the park that survived since (such as original Dance hall as a boat house and the Bingo Hall. White with Forest Green trims.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Non-painted Maple, Pumice Resin Powder (for skating)/ Wax and buff (for dancing).
Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: Between Mid February and May 1958. Demolished: Saturday July 23, 1988 By fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled Shelter - like Building.
Roof: Higher pitch Segmental Arch.
Acres: 25 +/- Acres (amusement park, before that, the Long Point Grove).
Operated: (Overall)-- (rink only) 1949 to Saturday, July 23, 1988.
Reason for Closure: Fire destroyed, no fire insurance so no rebuilt.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Friends of the Long Point Park: Livingston County News - Return of the roller skating;
Livingston County News - History of Park and roller skating; Rochester Democrat & Chronicle;
Friends of the Long Point Park - more info;
Date of issue: 1 May 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3, 16.
Before I go on, was Fraley's part of Long Point Amusement Park or not? It was at same location at the same year.
It was originally a dance hall as part of the Long Point Amusement Park. True that the first actual dance hall was built in 1898 on Conesus Lake, one of the fingers like lakes in the Finger Lakes region in Western/Central New York. The park was located in Geneseo, NY, way passed South of the New York State Thruway where many Residents from Rochester, NY would spend summers at the lake. Also enjoy at the amusement park. It was not a Trolley and Ferry Park per se because it was not classified according to articles I read. that a trolley would travel this far from the City of Rochester, NY. Rochester has their own Trolley Park anyway which is Seabreeze, one of the oldest Trolley Park still in operational in the United States. For you fans wanting to enjoy visiting Rochester, you should check out the oldest Trolley Park, Seabreeze which is in Irondequoit, Northeast of the City of Rochester, by Lake Ontario. A trolley park is..
However, the Erie Railway Railroad and Conesus Lake Railroad Company had trains, not trolleys. They provided a local train ride, not trolleys to a point on the northern tip of the lake and had ferries for passengers to ride to the Grove and the new amusement park at the time. So, it is sort of a Ferry Park, not a Trolley Park.
This park drew 10,000 patrons to the Park per day. A far cry from Disney World with much larger number. haha. But it was a good number per day at the time. In fact, In 1901, 20,000 people attended the Livingston County Picnic (Festival) at Long Point Park.
About the dance hall in 1898, it became the boathouse that is still in existence. You should visit that building as well as the old Bingo Hall building that are well preserved after the 1980s fire that destroyed most buildings. But also great to sit and relax at that park after you have traveled around the country finding old rinks using the list from Dead-Rinks. It does look beautiful there.
It was actually the next generation dance hall that served as a roller rink for two generations or so. The new hall was built in 1923 and that was the place where dancing was featured first before they slowly added roller skating.
The park itself grew and added activities such as mini-golf, picnics, activities, live orchestra, amusement rides and of course, arcade games. But of course the dance hall was the main attraction. Even beginning in 1936, they would have a brand new Chevrolet give away at the end of the summer season as a prize. This touted a local dealer, Conlon & O'Leary Motors that they had a brand new Packard to give away at the end of the season from 1937 till 1941.
Due to the Big War, World War II, the park had to close by orders in 1943. (You know that if you open, you had to pay war taxes based on how much income as a "fine" Sound familiar? Yes, COVID!) Yes, Skaters, they had a lockdown at the time!
Finally roller skating was introduced in the dance hall in 1949 season. Margaret Berry and her assistant, Carl Johnston, the owner of the park introduced skating but retained some dancing special events with live bands. The two were likely operators while Reverdy Wadsworth was the owner of the building.
But it was Summer and Mary Fraley operated the rink in 1949 to mid-1960s. The Farleys hired Phil, the manager of the rink to even be floor guard. Mary played the organ.
Years later, in February 1958, the heavy snow caused the arch roof to collapse. Likely it was a Free-Span roof they put in 1926. Not only that, it was age. During the winter, the hall acted as a winter storage building for the amusement park rides that was owned and operated by Steven LaGrou for 11 years before he bought the whole amusement park including the hall/rink building. He did not see another incident was coming.
Work to rebuilt the rink/dance hall was immediately built by this lumber company, Bernhardt Lumber Yards of Hemlock, NY who was willing to help out quickly rebuilt the building in three short months to make it in time for season opening. After the rebuilt was completed, it was primarily roller skating because of dancing was on decline.
The rink was rebuilt using the arch again. Perhaps much stronger.
Carl Johnston retired in 1967 prompt the ride operator John LaGrou to purchase the entire park and operated entirely.
However, like many amusement parks on decline due to highways, theme parks opening, and better transportation such as flying, people were able to go further and what hurt the park the most were the fires of Saturday July 23, 1988 that began in none other than the rink. Someone heard it sounded like a grinding stone coming from that direction and discovered it was a fire.
Because of the situation unaware of and the fire department only had one truck, they send one truck to fight a massive fire which was not enough and by the time another one came, it was too late, already spread to other buildings. And the rink was in total destruction. Smoke was seen miles away and drew boaters on the lake to come closer to see the destruction occur because it was not accessible due to much fire engines, pumpers, and ladders were there. Many people in the neighborhood and far came to see it gone. This was the end of the rink.
Because of SKEE BALL and FIVE-O concessions were housed in attached building next to the rink, they were gone too.
Children cried because they were hoping to get a bigger and better prizes to win by saving up all those SKEE BALL tickets. I know how they feel. Its tough to do that and never know when they are closing!
The property was purchased by the Town of Geneseo and sold off the rides and whatever left of the park in 1990. Converted to a beauty park with beautiful green grass, by the lake, and have a live weekly band play music there. But it is not the same as it was before.
The reason the park could not be rebuilt is because the owner did not have fire insurance for the park.
Original building --
The Interior.
Since they had no air conditioning, they had open windows on all four sides and they use that as to cool down because of the hot muggy NY weather during summer time (especially end of May to start of September). For sure they had posts for support on the trusses and roof however, the snow fall.. it caused collapse. This is upstate NY region from Buffalo to Rome-Utica or known as the NYS Thruway/I-90 snow band corridor which usually very heavy moist snow falls from Erie Pa to Albany.
Anyway, it was like a shelter inside with that feel. You would know that by being at a park (town, county, or state parks they have them). This is very similar.
The Exterior.
It acts as building but it has all four sides of window shutters and opened up as it is an open building or a shelter-like. The side of building ran parallel to the lake giving end to end of windows open during summer for dancers and later, skaters to enjoy the view and nice lake breeze on hot NY muggy evenings. The roof originally had Peaked Roof but between 1923 and 1926, they switched to the Segmental Arch roof design.
That building was destroyed in 1958.
The Stats:
Rink Size: (Opinion) 60' x 100'. Floor: Non-painted, polished Maple. Floor Layout: Likely Straight..
Building Size: 75' x 125' / 9,375 SF (very small). Built: 1923.
Demolished: February 7, 1958 due to Heavy snowfall caused roof collapsed pulling down side walls.
Type of Building: Wood span trusses wood walled with open windows shelter - like Building.
Roof: Originally when they built in 1923, it was Peaked roof but before 1926, replaced with Segmental Arch roof.
The Rebuilt --
The Interior.
Being all wood again built by the lumber yard, of course, Maple. Straight? I am not sure. But of course Maple floor. When there are two different kind of happenings. For roller skating, they had to put down Pumice Resin Powder for skaters to have better grips on their metal (or even wood) skate wheels. But for dancing, they grate bars of Wax to the floor and buff it to make it slippery for dancing.
The Exterior.
Echo from the original, they even had a higher pitch Segmental Arch building with opening like the original facing the shore line of the lake. Bigger porch than the original and canopy to protect from rain. It appeared to be White like the original was based on original surviving buildings in the park that survived since (such as original Dance hall as a boat house and the Bingo Hall. White with Forest Green trims.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Non-painted Maple, Pumice Resin Powder (for skating)/ Wax and buff (for dancing).
Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: Between Mid February and May 1958. Demolished: Saturday July 23, 1988 By fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled Shelter - like Building.
Roof: Higher pitch Segmental Arch.
Acres: 25 +/- Acres (amusement park, before that, the Long Point Grove).
Operated: (Overall)-- (rink only) 1949 to Saturday, July 23, 1988.
Reason for Closure: Fire destroyed, no fire insurance so no rebuilt.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Friends of the Long Point Park: Livingston County News - Return of the roller skating;
Livingston County News - History of Park and roller skating; Rochester Democrat & Chronicle;
Friends of the Long Point Park - more info;
Date of issue: 1 May 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3, 16.