Courtesy of Wayne Perkins. Women of all ages hung out by the front door to enjoy nice outside. Only known photo.
Courtesy of Wayne Perkins. Ah, Jimmy the Roller Skating Horse! They were having a demonstration with horse tricks at he rink. The photo did show the horse did skate if you look at the hoofs carefully. Circus style tricks the horse did there.
Rivervu Rollerway Millers Falls Road, Turners Falls, MA
Rivervu Rollerway was on Millers Falls Road in Turners Fall, Massachusetts. Before it became the roller rink, it was a big dance hall called Mayo’s Point during the 1940s.
Wayne Perkins who wrote the article in The Greenfield Recorder said his father went on to buy the former dance hall in 1949. He was always interested in breaking into the business, and his mother shared an interest in it as well because they both met each other at a skating rink before starting a skating rink.
Around 1958, he almost doubled the size of the original building. The rink was only open three days a week; it didn’t generate enough income to stay open more days than that. But, it was very popular, especially with teenagers. They would even teach dancing and skating there, and had competitions there against other rinks.
They even had Jimmy, the roller skating horse displaying at the rink! The photo showed he did skate. it would be way too difficult for a horse. Let alone a dog attempting to skate as you can see on a video on YouTube. That was difficult. The horse did other tricks though. Kind of like a circus happened at the rink. But if Jimmy did skate, then he sure did.
Ah, nice bus rides for free if you tell driver you going there and back. Clever promotional with the city bus. Costly to the rink yes.
The rink closed because of losing profits and declining attendees. It was later sold to become a furniture warehouse and the place was never upkept so the friend of Wayne Perkins bought the old rink and land, he torn it down because it was really bad shape -- unrepairable. Then he built his house in 1990s. It is a residential spot today.
The Interior.
N/A due there was never an interior photo ever taken! Likely wood floor because the building was all stick built.
The Exterior.
Simple all wood built rink and did get expansion as skating was getting popular. Twice the size. Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled house - like Building with Gable roof. Expanded in 1958 to double the size of the former dance hall turned to roller rink.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Wood. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Demolished: N/A. Demolished, now a residential house.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled house - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: 1949 to early 1960s.
Reason for Closure: Losing money, no profit as roller skating declined in 1960s.
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: The Greenfield Recorder - Riverersu Rolleraway;
Date of issue: 21 June 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.
Wayne Perkins who wrote the article in The Greenfield Recorder said his father went on to buy the former dance hall in 1949. He was always interested in breaking into the business, and his mother shared an interest in it as well because they both met each other at a skating rink before starting a skating rink.
Around 1958, he almost doubled the size of the original building. The rink was only open three days a week; it didn’t generate enough income to stay open more days than that. But, it was very popular, especially with teenagers. They would even teach dancing and skating there, and had competitions there against other rinks.
They even had Jimmy, the roller skating horse displaying at the rink! The photo showed he did skate. it would be way too difficult for a horse. Let alone a dog attempting to skate as you can see on a video on YouTube. That was difficult. The horse did other tricks though. Kind of like a circus happened at the rink. But if Jimmy did skate, then he sure did.
Ah, nice bus rides for free if you tell driver you going there and back. Clever promotional with the city bus. Costly to the rink yes.
The rink closed because of losing profits and declining attendees. It was later sold to become a furniture warehouse and the place was never upkept so the friend of Wayne Perkins bought the old rink and land, he torn it down because it was really bad shape -- unrepairable. Then he built his house in 1990s. It is a residential spot today.
The Interior.
N/A due there was never an interior photo ever taken! Likely wood floor because the building was all stick built.
The Exterior.
Simple all wood built rink and did get expansion as skating was getting popular. Twice the size. Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled house - like Building with Gable roof. Expanded in 1958 to double the size of the former dance hall turned to roller rink.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Wood. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Demolished: N/A. Demolished, now a residential house.
Type of Building: Free-Span Wood Truss Wood-Walled house - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: 1949 to early 1960s.
Reason for Closure: Losing money, no profit as roller skating declined in 1960s.
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: The Greenfield Recorder - Riverersu Rolleraway;
Date of issue: 21 June 2021.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.