Courtesy of Loopnet. See the differences? KCC has expanded the building by wider, and more modern with bit of Googie Architecture up front. The awing is bit of Segmental Arch canopy. The old rink width is from the left corner up to where the yellow section in the photo below. That would be roughly the width. I could not see in Google Map where the front door is! An aerial view points where. See the two cars in the photo? Right between those two vehicles. Courtesy of Loopnet. Photo below courtesy of Google Map.
Skate Corral 2664 East Kearney St., Springfield, MO
Roller City 2664 East Kearney St., Springfield, MO
Roller City 2664 East Kearney St., Springfield, MO
This rather large rink had two lives in this unusual look. Only one photo was available of this rink but sorry, not a close up and no interior. Lenora Carson registered on September 3, 1998 with the state to establish Roller City of Springfield, LLC. So, was Skate Corral around before that? There is no information regarding that however, I see Bizapedia said 43 companies were in that building and overlapping dates of being in business especially a construction company that has many states locations but main address apparently at their headquarters at the same address. Google Map confirms the company location now.
Was it 2 businesses in one building--separate entry? I do not think so. I believe they had a different location for the construction company and the rink was there until sold in 2005. Lenora had it running for short time apparently with name changes. Or Skate Corral was there. I do not have much information except from Loopnet and Bizapedia. It was not enough.
As for Roller City appearance in the photo, you can see it was a gable roofed warehouse-like with a possible brick frontage of the building on a angle I believe. Hard to tell in that single photo. Was it angled? If you were to look on top view, it would been a butterfly outline of the floor plan. It may have further proved with the Killian Construction national headquarters that they re-fronted it. It is still a gable roof building but they expanded the complex by building it wider. The Google Map photo will explain that clearly. It is harder to see front door of the newly renovated building. It is harder with this bigger building now and mostly glass. Those are offices. New parking lot now and has that Post-Modern Retro-Googie look on front with geometric shapes.
UPDATE --
A skater who wrote this in Dead-Rinks Facebook message and was forward by FB to my email. --
Betty Comstock - Obituary.
[John and Betty Comstock, June 17, 1935 - February 5, 2017] both owned the Skate Corral in Springfield Missouri [for 20 years]. I will try to send some pictures later on. Skate Corral was huge. I believe it was the fifth largest floor in the world in the [19]90s at some point.
They held races for speed skaters there every year called "show me showdown". Missouri is the show me state, that's what part of that name came from. Speed skaters would show up from all over the country to race. I was a speed skater for Skate Corral. Speed skating was very popular at the time and we felt kind of like kings of the Skate Corral. The floor looked to be cherry wood. The floor was large and completely flat. I mean it was nice. I never knew how good I had it.
They reconditioned it all the time with something that made your Wheels grip. Everybody called it "roll on". It had a very intense smell for months. Some of the speed skaters and other people began to speculate that the "roll on" was giving the owner, John Comstock health conditions. He did begin to distance himself from the roller rink. Betty and John Comstock both died of cancer I believe, but I'm sure nobody knows if the floor had anything to do with their health conditions. It was a large floor and it probably required a lot of the chemicals used for Wheels to grip the floor. Like I said before they held the "show me showdown" there and other speed skating events, so they wanted the floor to be nice. It was cool to see speed skaters come from all over the country to skate on our floor.
I began skating at about the age of 10 around 1994 or so at the Skate Corral. I went back to hear "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. The sound system and the speakers skate corral had was impressive. Little did I know, that song was going to have me skating 27 years later. Sometimes they had all night skates till 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. This was like babysitting to the parents in the '90s. When they had all night skates, kids from every school in town would show up. There was some fights of course with almost every kid in town making an appearance. That's just how it was back then.
The floor was so big that couples could run out one of the back exits and the referees would never be able to catch them. Lots of kids told their parents that a friend's mom was giving them a ride home. Then they would run out the Skate Corral. into town. It was a night of freedom. At the same time there was a lot of other relationships being formed inside the Skate Corral. My wife and I never left, we just skated and bonded. A lot of people would show up with sleeping bags and pajamas. They would skate for a while and then they would take off their skates and walk around acting tuff, talk to other people, dance, take pictures.
Basically no adults. It was a night club party for kids. We tried to form our personalities. We acted out what we thought we wanted to be. I wonder where we all are now? How many of us still skate today? How many of us still remember when we skated. How many of us still remember Skate Corral?
Wow, CHERRY floor! That wood mar in the Janka Test shows only 950 compared to Hard Maple of 1450. Cherry is softer. But BEAUTIFUL redness of the wood compared to whiteness in Maple.
That is sad that both John and Betty died of cancer. I totally gets it that people would think that the blame has to do with the "Roll On" coating for the floor. Yes, rink floors DO have chemicals and I do not want to say in negative way but today they have more of fumeless and safer chemicals which should not occur any lung damages or danger to health. Most rinks today uses some kind of Polyurethane coating over any types of floor- wood, concrete, or RollerCourt to smooth out. Yes, Polyurethane or a type of urethane coating began way back slightly over 100 years ago after an Architect noticed leakage problem on the roof so he invented this coating but it is different today. It is to do 2 major things: smooth floors, and protect material from harsh abuses such as skaters skating rolling and pounding the floor.
Should always wear special painters masks and OPEN ALL DOORS to let air out plus use your movable fans to circulate chemicals out of the building. I have seen photographs of many rinks having their floor done especially during 2020. Their doors shut! NO. OPEN them! Safety reason! Please read the instructions on the gallon or bucket before opening to seal the floor. I am a Designer and I recalled in old days before CGI and photoshops and AutoCAD, I recalled the art studio fumes. Yes, well designed to vent smell out of the studio. That was in college. Even my Prismacolor markers gave off that brand new smell as well as automobiles. It did say it is toxic fume. I still have those markers as some are replaced as others still good to use and they are 30 years old! Never ever breath them and use vents or open windows, period. I am IN my art studio working on profiles like this right now.
Thank you so much for the information. Now I can see why with this measurement of size of the rink itself. 90 feet wide by 210 feet, it was easy for couples to sneak out of the fire exit doors at the far end of the rink. It made sense.
Sure was one of largest due its size.
Roller City did appear modern though yet basic on the exterior. No interior photos were available. Anyone?
Interior:
It was one of the world's largest with 90' x 210' Cherry Wood floor with "Grip On" coating over 2 layer of Plywood underlay over asphalt according to Loop Net.
Exterior:
It was a basic Free Span Steel Trusses Steel-walled Warehouse Building with Gable roof. It was a 39,000 SF building.
Rink Size: 90' X 210' (18,900 SF) (Bigger than Olympic hockey rink size)
Floor: American Cherry skate floor is placed over 2-layer of plywood underlay over asphalt. Likely Urethane or Epoxy coated Floor Layout: N/A
Building Size: 39,000 SF Built: N/A
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Warehouse Building. (Now cinderblocks)
Roof: Gable (Now Flat)
Acres: 3.5800 Acres (That is huge for a rink!)
Operated: Overall- c.1983 to May 2003.
Skate Corral: c. 1983 to N/A.
Roller City: N/A to May 2003.
Sold/closed on sale: August 17, 2005
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Skate Corral: N/A.
Roller City: N/A.
Wanted: Information regarding rink size, original photos both interior and exterior, information regarding to Skate Corral. Why name change?
Sources: Bizapedia; Loopnet - PDF Version; Google Map; Betty Comstock - Obituary;
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.
Was it 2 businesses in one building--separate entry? I do not think so. I believe they had a different location for the construction company and the rink was there until sold in 2005. Lenora had it running for short time apparently with name changes. Or Skate Corral was there. I do not have much information except from Loopnet and Bizapedia. It was not enough.
As for Roller City appearance in the photo, you can see it was a gable roofed warehouse-like with a possible brick frontage of the building on a angle I believe. Hard to tell in that single photo. Was it angled? If you were to look on top view, it would been a butterfly outline of the floor plan. It may have further proved with the Killian Construction national headquarters that they re-fronted it. It is still a gable roof building but they expanded the complex by building it wider. The Google Map photo will explain that clearly. It is harder to see front door of the newly renovated building. It is harder with this bigger building now and mostly glass. Those are offices. New parking lot now and has that Post-Modern Retro-Googie look on front with geometric shapes.
UPDATE --
A skater who wrote this in Dead-Rinks Facebook message and was forward by FB to my email. --
Betty Comstock - Obituary.
[John and Betty Comstock, June 17, 1935 - February 5, 2017] both owned the Skate Corral in Springfield Missouri [for 20 years]. I will try to send some pictures later on. Skate Corral was huge. I believe it was the fifth largest floor in the world in the [19]90s at some point.
They held races for speed skaters there every year called "show me showdown". Missouri is the show me state, that's what part of that name came from. Speed skaters would show up from all over the country to race. I was a speed skater for Skate Corral. Speed skating was very popular at the time and we felt kind of like kings of the Skate Corral. The floor looked to be cherry wood. The floor was large and completely flat. I mean it was nice. I never knew how good I had it.
They reconditioned it all the time with something that made your Wheels grip. Everybody called it "roll on". It had a very intense smell for months. Some of the speed skaters and other people began to speculate that the "roll on" was giving the owner, John Comstock health conditions. He did begin to distance himself from the roller rink. Betty and John Comstock both died of cancer I believe, but I'm sure nobody knows if the floor had anything to do with their health conditions. It was a large floor and it probably required a lot of the chemicals used for Wheels to grip the floor. Like I said before they held the "show me showdown" there and other speed skating events, so they wanted the floor to be nice. It was cool to see speed skaters come from all over the country to skate on our floor.
I began skating at about the age of 10 around 1994 or so at the Skate Corral. I went back to hear "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. The sound system and the speakers skate corral had was impressive. Little did I know, that song was going to have me skating 27 years later. Sometimes they had all night skates till 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. This was like babysitting to the parents in the '90s. When they had all night skates, kids from every school in town would show up. There was some fights of course with almost every kid in town making an appearance. That's just how it was back then.
The floor was so big that couples could run out one of the back exits and the referees would never be able to catch them. Lots of kids told their parents that a friend's mom was giving them a ride home. Then they would run out the Skate Corral. into town. It was a night of freedom. At the same time there was a lot of other relationships being formed inside the Skate Corral. My wife and I never left, we just skated and bonded. A lot of people would show up with sleeping bags and pajamas. They would skate for a while and then they would take off their skates and walk around acting tuff, talk to other people, dance, take pictures.
Basically no adults. It was a night club party for kids. We tried to form our personalities. We acted out what we thought we wanted to be. I wonder where we all are now? How many of us still skate today? How many of us still remember when we skated. How many of us still remember Skate Corral?
Wow, CHERRY floor! That wood mar in the Janka Test shows only 950 compared to Hard Maple of 1450. Cherry is softer. But BEAUTIFUL redness of the wood compared to whiteness in Maple.
That is sad that both John and Betty died of cancer. I totally gets it that people would think that the blame has to do with the "Roll On" coating for the floor. Yes, rink floors DO have chemicals and I do not want to say in negative way but today they have more of fumeless and safer chemicals which should not occur any lung damages or danger to health. Most rinks today uses some kind of Polyurethane coating over any types of floor- wood, concrete, or RollerCourt to smooth out. Yes, Polyurethane or a type of urethane coating began way back slightly over 100 years ago after an Architect noticed leakage problem on the roof so he invented this coating but it is different today. It is to do 2 major things: smooth floors, and protect material from harsh abuses such as skaters skating rolling and pounding the floor.
Should always wear special painters masks and OPEN ALL DOORS to let air out plus use your movable fans to circulate chemicals out of the building. I have seen photographs of many rinks having their floor done especially during 2020. Their doors shut! NO. OPEN them! Safety reason! Please read the instructions on the gallon or bucket before opening to seal the floor. I am a Designer and I recalled in old days before CGI and photoshops and AutoCAD, I recalled the art studio fumes. Yes, well designed to vent smell out of the studio. That was in college. Even my Prismacolor markers gave off that brand new smell as well as automobiles. It did say it is toxic fume. I still have those markers as some are replaced as others still good to use and they are 30 years old! Never ever breath them and use vents or open windows, period. I am IN my art studio working on profiles like this right now.
Thank you so much for the information. Now I can see why with this measurement of size of the rink itself. 90 feet wide by 210 feet, it was easy for couples to sneak out of the fire exit doors at the far end of the rink. It made sense.
Sure was one of largest due its size.
Roller City did appear modern though yet basic on the exterior. No interior photos were available. Anyone?
Interior:
It was one of the world's largest with 90' x 210' Cherry Wood floor with "Grip On" coating over 2 layer of Plywood underlay over asphalt according to Loop Net.
Exterior:
It was a basic Free Span Steel Trusses Steel-walled Warehouse Building with Gable roof. It was a 39,000 SF building.
Rink Size: 90' X 210' (18,900 SF) (Bigger than Olympic hockey rink size)
Floor: American Cherry skate floor is placed over 2-layer of plywood underlay over asphalt. Likely Urethane or Epoxy coated Floor Layout: N/A
Building Size: 39,000 SF Built: N/A
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Warehouse Building. (Now cinderblocks)
Roof: Gable (Now Flat)
Acres: 3.5800 Acres (That is huge for a rink!)
Operated: Overall- c.1983 to May 2003.
Skate Corral: c. 1983 to N/A.
Roller City: N/A to May 2003.
Sold/closed on sale: August 17, 2005
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Skate Corral: N/A.
Roller City: N/A.
Wanted: Information regarding rink size, original photos both interior and exterior, information regarding to Skate Corral. Why name change?
Sources: Bizapedia; Loopnet - PDF Version; Google Map; Betty Comstock - Obituary;
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.