All courtesy of the Bowers Family. Polka Dots chairs! Awesome! Very unique! Never thought of that. That was really awesome idea! Now about the rink floor, that looked very clean simple interior design. Love the walls especially on the left side that has those colorful "bars" on it. Reminded me of some 1950s-1960s schools with that look on their windows or ceramic tiles on. I remember seeing them. Also this reminded me of the movie Close Encounter of the Third Kind when the pianist made key notes to the UFO near the end of the movie. I still can remember the music notes and lights... Can you? Or a computer dashboards you seen in many 50s to 80s movies and TV shows. Can you name them? Haha.
Livingston Roller Rink 145 Monterey Hwy, Livingston, TN
Livingston Roller Rink at 145 Monterey Highway in Livingston, Tennessee. There is full explanation of the rink from Facebook and I will quote what it says on here in Italic.
As many of you know that the Livingston Roller Rink has been a constant in Overton County for 48 years of operation. Maxine and Leon Bowers opened the Livingston Roller Rink August of 1968, Maxine has operated the family business on her own for 31 years. We closed the Livingston Skating Rink July of 2015 due to our mother’s health, and only opened for occasional birthday parties. This was a very difficult decision, but Maxine developed Dementia and with each year her memory made life difficult to do what she had done for so many years. In 2018 we would have celebrated our 50 Year Anniversary. Our dad loved the Skating Rink and would love to know that it survived that many years.
Our mom and dad moved to Michigan in the 50’s and my dad was a fireman there for 13 years. In 1968 he decided that it was time to move back to Tennessee and bring his children to a better life, back to the country and away from the city.
Our mom helped raise many children in the Overton County region and for those of you that know her and took your children, grandchildren to the skating rink, know that she treated them like her own. As kids growing up everyone called our mom and dad “mom and dad” then the generation changed to “granny and grandpa”. People would ask Maxine “how many grandchildren do you have?” because they all called her granny. She operated with a strict set of rules that never relaxed over the years as far as I remember. Girls were not permitted to sit in boy’s laps, you couldn’t wear saggy pants that showed your underwear or she would give you a skate string to tie them up with. You couldn’t wait outside for your ride either, and you better not back talk her. I remember as a child our parents would take kids home that got left past closing time for whatever reason but our parents never left anyone waiting outside. They truly cared about the kids that they were trusted with and it was really like leaving your kids with family.
Our mom is not a meek and mild woman but she loved your kids and wanted to be an authority figure to teach them good morals and values. Those of you who know what I am talking about, I hope you love her for that. The Bowers kids and grandkids had great parents and grandparents and, so did the kids of Overton County.
This is written in dedication of the long years of service that our parents served the Overton County community as people who cared for the kids. THANK YOU to the community for supporting our family business.
We have recently sold the building and with much sadness it is no longer a skating rink but with much gladness it will remain a viable business for Overton County. We are very thankful also to be able to give our mom a nice retired life in Assisted Living. She is doing very well and God has blessed us so much. Thank you to Chris Farguson of Custom Glass and Mirror for helping make that possible and we wish you as much success in your business as our parents had in their business.
Sincerely,
The Bowers Family. (edited)
Prayers all around for Maxine Bowers for her health (I pray she is still okay in 2021).
The Interior.
The skating rink was wall to wall full of Maple wood with beautiful colors on the wall. I love that blue hue on the wall and it was divided with chair rail height wrapped on all walls with Sand color below those rails.
The Exterior.
It was a very simple Gabled roof Free-Span Steel Truss Brick -Walled Warehouse - like Building. It has an extension to the right but in White wood stick built with flat roof. Perhaps it was either a shed or was a built out to expand.
The neighborhood looks so lovely, and beautiful. cross the highway, there are grasses and higher ground there. Truly countryside there. Peaceful looking for that area. I love the feel when I saw Google Maps. This place does give you peaceful and eager to make you want to skate.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Clear Maple, coated. Floor Layout: Appeared to be LOG.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1968?. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Steel-Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- August 1968 to July 2015
Reason for Closure: The Bowers Couple-- the Husband died and the wife had to retire due to health reasons and the children sold the building to another business which made it no longer a rink.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/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: Facebook;
Date of issue: 07 April 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.
As many of you know that the Livingston Roller Rink has been a constant in Overton County for 48 years of operation. Maxine and Leon Bowers opened the Livingston Roller Rink August of 1968, Maxine has operated the family business on her own for 31 years. We closed the Livingston Skating Rink July of 2015 due to our mother’s health, and only opened for occasional birthday parties. This was a very difficult decision, but Maxine developed Dementia and with each year her memory made life difficult to do what she had done for so many years. In 2018 we would have celebrated our 50 Year Anniversary. Our dad loved the Skating Rink and would love to know that it survived that many years.
Our mom and dad moved to Michigan in the 50’s and my dad was a fireman there for 13 years. In 1968 he decided that it was time to move back to Tennessee and bring his children to a better life, back to the country and away from the city.
Our mom helped raise many children in the Overton County region and for those of you that know her and took your children, grandchildren to the skating rink, know that she treated them like her own. As kids growing up everyone called our mom and dad “mom and dad” then the generation changed to “granny and grandpa”. People would ask Maxine “how many grandchildren do you have?” because they all called her granny. She operated with a strict set of rules that never relaxed over the years as far as I remember. Girls were not permitted to sit in boy’s laps, you couldn’t wear saggy pants that showed your underwear or she would give you a skate string to tie them up with. You couldn’t wait outside for your ride either, and you better not back talk her. I remember as a child our parents would take kids home that got left past closing time for whatever reason but our parents never left anyone waiting outside. They truly cared about the kids that they were trusted with and it was really like leaving your kids with family.
Our mom is not a meek and mild woman but she loved your kids and wanted to be an authority figure to teach them good morals and values. Those of you who know what I am talking about, I hope you love her for that. The Bowers kids and grandkids had great parents and grandparents and, so did the kids of Overton County.
This is written in dedication of the long years of service that our parents served the Overton County community as people who cared for the kids. THANK YOU to the community for supporting our family business.
We have recently sold the building and with much sadness it is no longer a skating rink but with much gladness it will remain a viable business for Overton County. We are very thankful also to be able to give our mom a nice retired life in Assisted Living. She is doing very well and God has blessed us so much. Thank you to Chris Farguson of Custom Glass and Mirror for helping make that possible and we wish you as much success in your business as our parents had in their business.
Sincerely,
The Bowers Family. (edited)
Prayers all around for Maxine Bowers for her health (I pray she is still okay in 2021).
The Interior.
The skating rink was wall to wall full of Maple wood with beautiful colors on the wall. I love that blue hue on the wall and it was divided with chair rail height wrapped on all walls with Sand color below those rails.
The Exterior.
It was a very simple Gabled roof Free-Span Steel Truss Brick -Walled Warehouse - like Building. It has an extension to the right but in White wood stick built with flat roof. Perhaps it was either a shed or was a built out to expand.
The neighborhood looks so lovely, and beautiful. cross the highway, there are grasses and higher ground there. Truly countryside there. Peaceful looking for that area. I love the feel when I saw Google Maps. This place does give you peaceful and eager to make you want to skate.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Clear Maple, coated. Floor Layout: Appeared to be LOG.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1968?. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Steel-Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- August 1968 to July 2015
Reason for Closure: The Bowers Couple-- the Husband died and the wife had to retire due to health reasons and the children sold the building to another business which made it no longer a rink.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/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: Facebook;
Date of issue: 07 April 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.