Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of USARSA.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of USARSA.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. As seen today in 2023. Courtesy of Google Maps.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. As seen today in 2023. Courtesy of Google Maps.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Only known photograph of the rink interior. It was a Midnight Skating Party. 42 different clubs from around the state and even country attended this largest rink! 1285 skaters! Whew! Dang, I missed the boat! It would have been nice a time machine... Haha.. Never mind. Courtesy of Chester Fried. From Stories from Perth Amboy.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Exerts of pages from the book. Only ones I could get. Yes, I can image if AOW owned this rink.. It would have been operational to maybe 2010s. That is all I think they would have. Courtesy of Stories from Perth Amboy.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of Matawan Journal - 25 January 1940.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of Matawan Journal - 18 September 1941.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of Courtesy of Billboard - 11 September 1943, Page 44, first and second column, top story. Photoshopped and graphic design copyrighted by Rink-History. (cleaned up, re-arrange spacing /edited for website).
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of The Central New Jersey Home News - 05 March 1948.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. 1954 Annual National Roller Skating Guide Courtesy of USARollerskaters.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of Rink History.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. Courtesy of Rink History.
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ. This rink we declared the Largest from 25 December 1939 Christmas Day to December 1949. Guptil's Arena holds World Record currently.. Courtesy and Copyrighted by International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group .
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ
America On Wheels Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ
America On Wheels Herbert & Smith St., Perth Amboy, NJ
Perth Amboy Arena Herbert & Smith Street, Perth Amboy, New Jersey which was also operated as America On Wheels Corporation or known as AOW Corporation. The manager was Dave Barr.
This rink at the time was the World's Largest that it had ONE ACRE of Maple wood floor for skating! Image 200 Feet x 217.8 Feet? That was huge! I am not sure how long and wide it was actually. Or was it actually two or three because the buildings appeared to be three Gabled building. Guptil's Arena holds that tile today. Guptil's Arena is at 50,000 Square Feet! The largest. Guinness Book of World Records verified this. (Oddly, the website for the world records did not list the rink. Hmm!) OK, International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group World Records.
It was operated from 25 December 1939 to 1949. Ten years lease. The owner of the building did not renew the lease with AOW because Philip-Carey, a tar and roofing company offered more money for the lease than AOW offered and the rink was converted into a factory. It was all about money.
This is the rink that was originally named after where William Schmitz the founder of AOW Corporation. Originally was called Perth Amboy Arena, Inc. The company began in 1937. But it was one of the original four.
Ironically, this rink began AFTER Roseland Roller Rink, Passiac Skating Rink, Capital Arena began in 1938. Paterson Arena in 1939, the same year as Perth Amboy Arena.
I do not know why they named after this 4th rink. But the renaming as America On Wheels is more fitting for multi-rink chain.
They operated rinks until 1986 and it was dissolved because the families that owned the company either did not want to operate or not qualified and some rinks still operating when the company dissolved. Last of the America On Wheels was in 2017 when Kendell Park closed.
The Interior.
This rink has a very interesting math. It had 43560 Square Feet which is exactly 1.0000 Acre. ONE acre. That is big! If you were to divide by 200 Feet long, you get 217.8 Feet wide. I think Guptil's Arena is bigger because I read somewhere it says 300 feet by 200. I am not sure. This would have been the true World's largest at the time. It had a lot of Hardwood Maple to cover! No wonder when you saw the picture of the exterior or for some of you who were there, indeed was massive. Building with Gabled roof are normally can go far as 85 feet wide. With some exception, of course. Modern buildings can go bigger.. Seen your covered stadiums? Exactly.
The Exterior
This is massive rink that they had three Gabled roofed Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Arena - like Building. The design they had was advanced 1950s look in 1930s with massive windows up front of the building. It does look like a state fair building or a car dealership or even a grocery store. They did not own the building but the owner was genius to have Mid-Century design early as 1930s! This could predate Googie's Architecture which was 1939.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 43560 SF.* Floor: Hardwood Maple. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: Likely 60,000 SF because of the sheer size of rink floor and off rink necessities. Built: N/A. Renovations: 1939 1950. Demolished: Demolished (Date unknown)
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Arena - like Building.
Roof: Gabled. (Three).
Acres: N/A.
Architect: N/A.
Contractor: N/A.
Interior Designer: N/A.
Organ: Likely Hammond.
Organist: Paul Alexander (1942 to 1949)
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: N/A.
Air Hockey Tables: N/A.
Foosball Table: N/A.
Basketball Speed: N/A.
Amusement Rides: None.
Driving Range Slots: None.
Miniature Golf Course: None.
Arcade: (Number unknown)
Skee-Ball: N/A.
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.
Theater (movie/stage): None.
Dance Center: None.
Picnic Grove: None.
*The World's Largest rink recognized by Rink-History for that time. They lost title when they closed the rink. Currently Guptil's Arena hold that tile.
Operated: (Overall)-- 25 December 1939 Christmas Day to December 1949. (10 years lease)
Reason for Closure: Owner of building did not renew lease with AOW because a business man offered more money for the building as a higher bidder and won.
Award/Record: World's Largest Rink - 1 Acre/ 43560 SF Title lost in December 1949.
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 Rink-History©. 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:
USARSA.
Stories from Perth Amboy - Book by Katherine Massopust, Page 81 to 91. Note- Pretty much she had sources from USARSA website! So, you can use the website instead of ordering the book. You cannot read the free example pages on Amazon. Google has altered the table of content to clickable and without pages. That I think is a copy right violation. It needs to show page like Billboard does. If Google wants to show the entire book, must show entire book like it does with Billboard! What part Google does not understand? They did show like a couple of pages but not the entire 10 pages. Since I do not earn money from you, readers, I cannot read more. Only what I can get. And that is what I got. Understand? So forget those two. Stick to the free site called USARSA.
Date of issue: 12 August 2023.
Updated:
For office use only: 14.
Worth to visit:
You can see the grounds now that it is empty. Nature is covering up the foundation.
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 International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group and/or International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© 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 17. Deut. 32:7.
This rink at the time was the World's Largest that it had ONE ACRE of Maple wood floor for skating! Image 200 Feet x 217.8 Feet? That was huge! I am not sure how long and wide it was actually. Or was it actually two or three because the buildings appeared to be three Gabled building. Guptil's Arena holds that tile today. Guptil's Arena is at 50,000 Square Feet! The largest. Guinness Book of World Records verified this. (Oddly, the website for the world records did not list the rink. Hmm!) OK, International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group World Records.
It was operated from 25 December 1939 to 1949. Ten years lease. The owner of the building did not renew the lease with AOW because Philip-Carey, a tar and roofing company offered more money for the lease than AOW offered and the rink was converted into a factory. It was all about money.
This is the rink that was originally named after where William Schmitz the founder of AOW Corporation. Originally was called Perth Amboy Arena, Inc. The company began in 1937. But it was one of the original four.
Ironically, this rink began AFTER Roseland Roller Rink, Passiac Skating Rink, Capital Arena began in 1938. Paterson Arena in 1939, the same year as Perth Amboy Arena.
I do not know why they named after this 4th rink. But the renaming as America On Wheels is more fitting for multi-rink chain.
They operated rinks until 1986 and it was dissolved because the families that owned the company either did not want to operate or not qualified and some rinks still operating when the company dissolved. Last of the America On Wheels was in 2017 when Kendell Park closed.
The Interior.
This rink has a very interesting math. It had 43560 Square Feet which is exactly 1.0000 Acre. ONE acre. That is big! If you were to divide by 200 Feet long, you get 217.8 Feet wide. I think Guptil's Arena is bigger because I read somewhere it says 300 feet by 200. I am not sure. This would have been the true World's largest at the time. It had a lot of Hardwood Maple to cover! No wonder when you saw the picture of the exterior or for some of you who were there, indeed was massive. Building with Gabled roof are normally can go far as 85 feet wide. With some exception, of course. Modern buildings can go bigger.. Seen your covered stadiums? Exactly.
The Exterior
This is massive rink that they had three Gabled roofed Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Arena - like Building. The design they had was advanced 1950s look in 1930s with massive windows up front of the building. It does look like a state fair building or a car dealership or even a grocery store. They did not own the building but the owner was genius to have Mid-Century design early as 1930s! This could predate Googie's Architecture which was 1939.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 43560 SF.* Floor: Hardwood Maple. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: Likely 60,000 SF because of the sheer size of rink floor and off rink necessities. Built: N/A. Renovations: 1939 1950. Demolished: Demolished (Date unknown)
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Arena - like Building.
Roof: Gabled. (Three).
Acres: N/A.
Architect: N/A.
Contractor: N/A.
Interior Designer: N/A.
Organ: Likely Hammond.
Organist: Paul Alexander (1942 to 1949)
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: N/A.
Air Hockey Tables: N/A.
Foosball Table: N/A.
Basketball Speed: N/A.
Amusement Rides: None.
Driving Range Slots: None.
Miniature Golf Course: None.
Arcade: (Number unknown)
Skee-Ball: N/A.
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.
Theater (movie/stage): None.
Dance Center: None.
Picnic Grove: None.
*The World's Largest rink recognized by Rink-History for that time. They lost title when they closed the rink. Currently Guptil's Arena hold that tile.
Operated: (Overall)-- 25 December 1939 Christmas Day to December 1949. (10 years lease)
Reason for Closure: Owner of building did not renew lease with AOW because a business man offered more money for the building as a higher bidder and won.
Award/Record: World's Largest Rink - 1 Acre/ 43560 SF Title lost in December 1949.
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 Rink-History©. 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:
USARSA.
Stories from Perth Amboy - Book by Katherine Massopust, Page 81 to 91. Note- Pretty much she had sources from USARSA website! So, you can use the website instead of ordering the book. You cannot read the free example pages on Amazon. Google has altered the table of content to clickable and without pages. That I think is a copy right violation. It needs to show page like Billboard does. If Google wants to show the entire book, must show entire book like it does with Billboard! What part Google does not understand? They did show like a couple of pages but not the entire 10 pages. Since I do not earn money from you, readers, I cannot read more. Only what I can get. And that is what I got. Understand? So forget those two. Stick to the free site called USARSA.
Date of issue: 12 August 2023.
Updated:
For office use only: 14.
Worth to visit:
You can see the grounds now that it is empty. Nature is covering up the foundation.
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 International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group and/or International Roller Skating Rinks History Foundation© 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 17. Deut. 32:7.