Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Taken likely in late 1910s or early 1920s. It is bit hard to see but the rink sign is seen behind this tree in center of the photo. It is a small rink. Source: Clinton History, Galen Gonser Collection).
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. This clearly was a newspaper advertisement. I believe it was cut off from the rest of the ad to show schedule, name, and address. I found as it was a bit crooked and I straightened it out but rest of the ad was never found. Taken in 1945. Appeared to be on a gloomy day. Source: Columbus Library. Copyrighted Remastered by Dead-Rinks (straightened and photo brighter as much as I can).
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Top view of the former rink. I am not sure if that is the big dark roof building seen in this photo or was that the gabled one on bottom right corner where it has copyright and name on it. I think its the big dark one. They had big open field behind. Today it is a series of Apartment buildings. Source: USGS 1953. Copyrighted Remastered by Dead-Rinks (Brighter, clear as much as I can).
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Taken in 1915. This group of dancers were employees with their families and the employer of Jeffrey Mining Machines enjoying a company outing just like any companies today would have Christmas dinners and dance or summer theme park picnic outings. Look how beautiful Maple wood floor was! How shining it was! They must had some kind of fresh protection coating on the floor. See the reflexion of that little kid's whites reflex on the floor and others' clothing? I see two guys sitting on the floor were wearing hats that looked familiar.. Seen in some Jackie Chan movies that I own (Yes, 38 movies on DVDs) that this was a Chinese Warrior helmet. It made sense because of the Chinese Lanterns hanging. Were those two men in a theme dance drama? At first I thought they were being funny but it was not. Thanks to the lanterns. Source: Biography, History & Travel Division, Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Taken in December 1943. Young skaters skating. This one they were line skating together. Normally 3 but in this one, 8 in a group each skating. Major changes interior between 1915 and this one in 1943 were columns added for more support. Must be because of the snow in winters taking toll on the building but also new light pendents from metal reflex with open bulb to popular glass ornate pendants. I believe the Chinese Lantern Lamps were decoration for that company's event seen in 1915. Source: Ohio History.
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Today's view of the former rink location. Now it is a complex full of apartments. That street was likely named after the rink was demolished and built for the apartments. Source: Google.
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH. Sticker. Source: eBay. Copyrighted Remastered by Dead-Rinks (the sticker was chopped off on the website but I repaired by making it whole. Plus clean up).
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden 2150 North Fourth St, Columbus, OH
Iuka Park Gardens 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH (official name)
Iuka Park Gardens 2150 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH (official name)
Smith’s Roller Rink and Dance Garden was once a roller rink on 2150 North Fourth Street in Columbus, Ohio. It all began in 1903 when a Syracuse, NY born native Abbot Resident George Willard Smith opened the dance hall and later, the roller rink in 1905. George who was a well-known Columbus dancing instructor, built Smith’s Iuka Dance Gardens in 1903. Later, Smith and his wife opened Smith’s Skating Rink, a roller skating rink.
Both establishments were located at 2150 North Fourth Street in Columbus, Ohio, until they closed in 1971.
George Willard Smith was known as the “King of the Outdoor Amusements” in the early days of the 20th century.
His family moved from Syracuse, NY to Ohio where he worked with his father in a horse carriage factory that they and the workers found ways to manufacture carriages every 8 minutes. Sounds like they invented in their own rights the assembly line that automobiles and other products are made including motorcycles, RVs, snowmobiles, and many more are made. For that 8 minutes, they matched the same with snowmobile manufacturing time (Snowmobile plant tour guide pointed that out to me in 1980). Automobiles and RVs are every 21 minutes (according to a factory tour I attended in Elkhart, Indiana for RV in 2013 and River Rogue tour in 2004). Motorcycles perhaps about the same-- 8 minutes. Lawn motors perhaps every 5 minutes.
George's father's death at age 50 touched him not to live rest of his life stuck in the factory manufacturing so he figured it out what he wanted to do with his life. He never spoke of any dance schools or lessons and he was self taught then he said he worked with 23,000 clients to learn how to dance. He would teach them in their homes, or maybe at facilities large enough to host several dancers at once to learn how to dance. He was inventiveness in his own right as a dance instructor. A sort of Arthur Murray of his own.
His big break came when George Smith was able to lease some land from the Neil family in the area of Iuka Ravine where Northwood and 4th is today for a dance pavilion. then, in 1905, the roller skating rink on the same property, which George named Smith’s Iuka Park Gardens. That was the official name. Roller skating competitions would be held in the rink, where the best skaters in the state would compete to see who could skate the fastest laps. In 1909, it was the biggest year for such a competition.
Then George had enough money to purchase and operate the B. F. Keith Theater on Gay Street, a vaudeville theater. His in laws lived in an apartment on the floors above the theater itself, and that’s also where Smith had his office…
As the teens waned and the 20’s came roaring, George and Adele (his wife) would do less with the theater work and spend more time on their more profitable dance hall and skating rink ventures. Iuka Park Gardens became an institution for the community, even employing boys as young as 12 years old to help lace up the skate to the shoes of the patrons.
I think they were called "Skate boys"
George’s brother-in-law, Ivan managed the rink and dance hall in 1938. George passed away in 1948 so Adele operated Iuka Park Gardens until her death in 1965, and it would remain open until Ivan had to close the business in 1971. The land was sold, the dance hall and rinks bulldozed, and the Iuka Park Commons Apartments are there to this day.
The Smiths had no children therefore there were none to inherit the rink.
There was an amusement park just south of the rink. I see on Google Map that it is now a baseball field there. Likely that was the location of the park. It was Indianola Park which ran from 1905 to 1937. The roller rink outlived the amusement park. It is now Indianola Middle School Park and school. Looked like it was established to compete against the roller rink and dance hall which the trolley parks, traction parks, electric parks, and ferry parks usually have. I know off subject but always seemly to connect. This park was operated by Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll, and peaked in popularity in the 1910s, with entertaining crowds of up to 10 thousand people. They had numerous roller coasters and rides, with up to 5 thousand in the massive pool alone. The park was also the home field for the Columbus Panhandles for half of a decade. In the 1920s, new owners bought and remodeled the park, and it did well until it closed its doors at the end of the Great Depression in 1937.
This might have helped the Smiths with their roller rink and dance hall practically "next door".
The Interior.
Likely Maple wood floor by the look of the exterior and interior photos. It was Columns supported wood trusses building with parallel columns on the rink floor. That would have been difficult to skate with those columns objects in the way of the course of the rink. It was small rink though.
The Exterior.
From the look, it was not clear because it appeared smaller than the interior in the photo. On the right side, you can see it was a large deck with roof extension and support columns. It gave a very country western look of sort in this period of time in 1900s. It had a sign and it was rather small looking. There was a garage behind the building or rather next to it in the photo. Making it very narrow or was it extended behind that was not seen in the exterior photo. This one was not very clear. Anyone who has skated in more recent years, please let me know what was it like and any newer photos would be appreciated because of its nearly 70 years of operations.
The Organ:
Wurlitzer 153 Band Organ was used from 1925 to 1965. Originally, a carnival owner, Charles Brodbeck of Kinsley, Kansas owned the organ until it was sold to George Smith around 1925 which was 22 years after the dance hall first opened. With Adele's death, she sold it to a private owner from Indiana, then Craig Wiley of Ashland County, Ohio purchased it in 2019.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: N/A.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: Wurlitzer 153 Band.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1903 to 1971.
(Dance hall) 1903 to 1971.
(Roller rink) 1905 to 1971.
Reason for Closure: "Had to sell" sounded like bankrupt or loss of money or due to taxes or something.
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:
Clinton History - Smith's Roller Rink.
Canton Rep. - History from a writer who lived by the old rink mostly talked about the Park Roller Rink.
Indianola Park - List of dance halls of yesteryear including Smith's and Buckeye Park.
Columbus Alive - similar article found in Canton Rep (see above).
Date of issue: 18 October 2021.
For office use only: 7
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
Both establishments were located at 2150 North Fourth Street in Columbus, Ohio, until they closed in 1971.
George Willard Smith was known as the “King of the Outdoor Amusements” in the early days of the 20th century.
His family moved from Syracuse, NY to Ohio where he worked with his father in a horse carriage factory that they and the workers found ways to manufacture carriages every 8 minutes. Sounds like they invented in their own rights the assembly line that automobiles and other products are made including motorcycles, RVs, snowmobiles, and many more are made. For that 8 minutes, they matched the same with snowmobile manufacturing time (Snowmobile plant tour guide pointed that out to me in 1980). Automobiles and RVs are every 21 minutes (according to a factory tour I attended in Elkhart, Indiana for RV in 2013 and River Rogue tour in 2004). Motorcycles perhaps about the same-- 8 minutes. Lawn motors perhaps every 5 minutes.
George's father's death at age 50 touched him not to live rest of his life stuck in the factory manufacturing so he figured it out what he wanted to do with his life. He never spoke of any dance schools or lessons and he was self taught then he said he worked with 23,000 clients to learn how to dance. He would teach them in their homes, or maybe at facilities large enough to host several dancers at once to learn how to dance. He was inventiveness in his own right as a dance instructor. A sort of Arthur Murray of his own.
His big break came when George Smith was able to lease some land from the Neil family in the area of Iuka Ravine where Northwood and 4th is today for a dance pavilion. then, in 1905, the roller skating rink on the same property, which George named Smith’s Iuka Park Gardens. That was the official name. Roller skating competitions would be held in the rink, where the best skaters in the state would compete to see who could skate the fastest laps. In 1909, it was the biggest year for such a competition.
Then George had enough money to purchase and operate the B. F. Keith Theater on Gay Street, a vaudeville theater. His in laws lived in an apartment on the floors above the theater itself, and that’s also where Smith had his office…
As the teens waned and the 20’s came roaring, George and Adele (his wife) would do less with the theater work and spend more time on their more profitable dance hall and skating rink ventures. Iuka Park Gardens became an institution for the community, even employing boys as young as 12 years old to help lace up the skate to the shoes of the patrons.
I think they were called "Skate boys"
George’s brother-in-law, Ivan managed the rink and dance hall in 1938. George passed away in 1948 so Adele operated Iuka Park Gardens until her death in 1965, and it would remain open until Ivan had to close the business in 1971. The land was sold, the dance hall and rinks bulldozed, and the Iuka Park Commons Apartments are there to this day.
The Smiths had no children therefore there were none to inherit the rink.
There was an amusement park just south of the rink. I see on Google Map that it is now a baseball field there. Likely that was the location of the park. It was Indianola Park which ran from 1905 to 1937. The roller rink outlived the amusement park. It is now Indianola Middle School Park and school. Looked like it was established to compete against the roller rink and dance hall which the trolley parks, traction parks, electric parks, and ferry parks usually have. I know off subject but always seemly to connect. This park was operated by Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll, and peaked in popularity in the 1910s, with entertaining crowds of up to 10 thousand people. They had numerous roller coasters and rides, with up to 5 thousand in the massive pool alone. The park was also the home field for the Columbus Panhandles for half of a decade. In the 1920s, new owners bought and remodeled the park, and it did well until it closed its doors at the end of the Great Depression in 1937.
This might have helped the Smiths with their roller rink and dance hall practically "next door".
The Interior.
Likely Maple wood floor by the look of the exterior and interior photos. It was Columns supported wood trusses building with parallel columns on the rink floor. That would have been difficult to skate with those columns objects in the way of the course of the rink. It was small rink though.
The Exterior.
From the look, it was not clear because it appeared smaller than the interior in the photo. On the right side, you can see it was a large deck with roof extension and support columns. It gave a very country western look of sort in this period of time in 1900s. It had a sign and it was rather small looking. There was a garage behind the building or rather next to it in the photo. Making it very narrow or was it extended behind that was not seen in the exterior photo. This one was not very clear. Anyone who has skated in more recent years, please let me know what was it like and any newer photos would be appreciated because of its nearly 70 years of operations.
The Organ:
Wurlitzer 153 Band Organ was used from 1925 to 1965. Originally, a carnival owner, Charles Brodbeck of Kinsley, Kansas owned the organ until it was sold to George Smith around 1925 which was 22 years after the dance hall first opened. With Adele's death, she sold it to a private owner from Indiana, then Craig Wiley of Ashland County, Ohio purchased it in 2019.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: N/A.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Organ: Wurlitzer 153 Band.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1903 to 1971.
(Dance hall) 1903 to 1971.
(Roller rink) 1905 to 1971.
Reason for Closure: "Had to sell" sounded like bankrupt or loss of money or due to taxes or something.
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:
Clinton History - Smith's Roller Rink.
Canton Rep. - History from a writer who lived by the old rink mostly talked about the Park Roller Rink.
Indianola Park - List of dance halls of yesteryear including Smith's and Buckeye Park.
Columbus Alive - similar article found in Canton Rep (see above).
Date of issue: 18 October 2021.
For office use only: 7
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.