Lakemont Park Roller Arena 700 Park Avenue, Altoona, PA. Only very good photo of the rink at the time. Quite a bit of words all over the walls. Source: Facebook.
Lakemont Park Roller Arena 700 Park Avenue, Altoona, PA
The Roller Arena Lakemont Park, 700 Park Avenue, Altoona, PA (aka)
The Roller Arena Lakemont Park, 700 Park Avenue, Altoona, PA (aka)
Lakemont Park Roller Arena was one of the first Trolley Park roller rink in this country of the United States of America dating back to 1894. Many rinks in that decade had their starts at parks such as Trolley Parks, Amusement Parks, Electric Parks, and even Ferry Parks. It was in Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In 1899, it became Amusement Park that early summer. The Roller Arena was the nickname. Hence it is listed "as known as".
The Altoona & Logan Valley Electric Railway owned and operated the park including the rink at the time. I am sure there were several new owners come and went throughout the first 80 years of 20th Century. Unfortunately, the skating rink was demolished in the 1980s since they failed to modernize the park. Other buildings demolished included the "Monster Den" and the 1902 Carousel building. The site is a prime example that demolishing historic buildings in the name of progress often does not pay off.
It is one of only thirteen trolley parks still operating, and the 8th oldest amusement park in the United States (Today, it would be Seabreeze the oldest continuing Trolley Park which is in Irondequoit in Greater Rochester, NY area right by Lake Ontario. I am proud to have spend time there with my Deaf church group enjoying vacationing at the park with a famed (and my favorite) martial artist's Deaf nephew. Hey JCVD, you made great movies! Thanks for the entertainment in past 40 years! Yes, that is him whom I am talking about, not the nephew! Haha.
Lakemont Park was donated to Blair County in 1937. I believe the county sold it to the Boyer Candy Company in 1986.
The Boyer Candy Company owned the park from 23 May 1986 until 01 July 1988, when it was called Boyertown USA. The park was closed from 2017-2018, but re-opened in summer 2019.
The park closed at the beginning of the 2017 season, as many rides and attractions were undergoing maintenance. In 2018, Lakemont Park announced that it would remain closed with plans to reopen as a "family entertainment location with some amusements" in the summer of 2019 and they did reopen that summer. Lakemont indicated it is planning on selling most of the rides except for Skyliner, Leap the Dips, Antique Cars, Miniature Train, Paddle Boats, Indy Go-Karts, 4x4 Monster Trucks, Lil’ Leaper, and the Waterpark.
There are other attractions they retain on the property: Two mini-golf courses; one for younger children and one for older children, Batting cages, Basketball courts, Volleyball courts, Playground, Walking paths
Today Lakemont Park is semi-Amusement Park, semi-Recreation Park. It is a family owned operations today with the Cohen Family.
The Interior.
Likely had Maple wood or similar flooring. Layout is unknown and the looks interior was unknown either.
The Exterior.
It was a typical roller rink design of its day that you walk up a numerous of steps to the first floor. Yes, it was on a hill. It appeared to be Snow-White walled with Gabled Roof building.
It had a lot of words all over plus a mural of a couple skating together. It was normal for the time for any business with a lot of words on it. A far cry from today which is much cleaner appearance. This was truly classic 1890s look.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 1980s
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel or Wood Trusses Steel - Walled Venue - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: 60.0000 AC.
Organ: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- (Park) 03 July 1894 to 2016, 2019 to present.
Park: 03 July 1894 to 2016, 2019 to present.
Rink: 03 July 1894 to 1980s.
Reason for Closure: Instead of modernized, they decided to demolish instead.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Facebook - Lakemont Park
Wikipedia - Lakemont Park (no mention of roller skating rink)
Facebook - Lakemont Park Roller Arena (history and photo)
Lakemont Park - Website of park today.
Worth to visit:
YES! Go have fun at the park. Sorry, they do not have any roller rink anymore. But if you want some kind of fun, go to Lakemont Park!
Date of issue: 27 May 2022.
For office use only:
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
XXXXXXXX
https://www.facebook.com/blairhistory/photos/the-roller-arena-at-lakemont-park-in-altoona-was-one-of-the-first-amusement-park/888263041239085/
http://lakemontparkfun.com/
The Altoona & Logan Valley Electric Railway owned and operated the park including the rink at the time. I am sure there were several new owners come and went throughout the first 80 years of 20th Century. Unfortunately, the skating rink was demolished in the 1980s since they failed to modernize the park. Other buildings demolished included the "Monster Den" and the 1902 Carousel building. The site is a prime example that demolishing historic buildings in the name of progress often does not pay off.
It is one of only thirteen trolley parks still operating, and the 8th oldest amusement park in the United States (Today, it would be Seabreeze the oldest continuing Trolley Park which is in Irondequoit in Greater Rochester, NY area right by Lake Ontario. I am proud to have spend time there with my Deaf church group enjoying vacationing at the park with a famed (and my favorite) martial artist's Deaf nephew. Hey JCVD, you made great movies! Thanks for the entertainment in past 40 years! Yes, that is him whom I am talking about, not the nephew! Haha.
Lakemont Park was donated to Blair County in 1937. I believe the county sold it to the Boyer Candy Company in 1986.
The Boyer Candy Company owned the park from 23 May 1986 until 01 July 1988, when it was called Boyertown USA. The park was closed from 2017-2018, but re-opened in summer 2019.
The park closed at the beginning of the 2017 season, as many rides and attractions were undergoing maintenance. In 2018, Lakemont Park announced that it would remain closed with plans to reopen as a "family entertainment location with some amusements" in the summer of 2019 and they did reopen that summer. Lakemont indicated it is planning on selling most of the rides except for Skyliner, Leap the Dips, Antique Cars, Miniature Train, Paddle Boats, Indy Go-Karts, 4x4 Monster Trucks, Lil’ Leaper, and the Waterpark.
There are other attractions they retain on the property: Two mini-golf courses; one for younger children and one for older children, Batting cages, Basketball courts, Volleyball courts, Playground, Walking paths
Today Lakemont Park is semi-Amusement Park, semi-Recreation Park. It is a family owned operations today with the Cohen Family.
The Interior.
Likely had Maple wood or similar flooring. Layout is unknown and the looks interior was unknown either.
The Exterior.
It was a typical roller rink design of its day that you walk up a numerous of steps to the first floor. Yes, it was on a hill. It appeared to be Snow-White walled with Gabled Roof building.
It had a lot of words all over plus a mural of a couple skating together. It was normal for the time for any business with a lot of words on it. A far cry from today which is much cleaner appearance. This was truly classic 1890s look.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 1980s
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel or Wood Trusses Steel - Walled Venue - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: 60.0000 AC.
Organ: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- (Park) 03 July 1894 to 2016, 2019 to present.
Park: 03 July 1894 to 2016, 2019 to present.
Rink: 03 July 1894 to 1980s.
Reason for Closure: Instead of modernized, they decided to demolish instead.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Facebook - Lakemont Park
Wikipedia - Lakemont Park (no mention of roller skating rink)
Facebook - Lakemont Park Roller Arena (history and photo)
Lakemont Park - Website of park today.
Worth to visit:
YES! Go have fun at the park. Sorry, they do not have any roller rink anymore. But if you want some kind of fun, go to Lakemont Park!
Date of issue: 27 May 2022.
For office use only:
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
XXXXXXXX
https://www.facebook.com/blairhistory/photos/the-roller-arena-at-lakemont-park-in-altoona-was-one-of-the-first-amusement-park/888263041239085/
http://lakemontparkfun.com/