United Skates of America 566 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA. Photos courtesy of USGS. It sat right in the property area of the Air-plane Drive-in Movie Theater. This building is a domed type which is hard to see in this old 1971 photograph. It was built in or before 1971. You can see the parking lot lines visually cleared in bottom photo south of the rink. Top photo showed the entrance to the drive-in is just north of the rink and the theater is behind the rink. The 1960s photo showed no building but drive-in was there. Source: USGS.
United Skates of America 566 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA. A 1978 advertisement for the rink. Source: 1978 Springfield Union.
United Skates of America 566 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA
This was the rink United Skates of America had and it was on 566 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Bruce Broyles built this brand new rink at the time and operated this rink.
Anyone know more about it, please let us know at Dead-Rinks! [email protected].
Right by the intersection of the Massachusetts Turnpike, This United Skates of America was located by the Air-Line Drive-in movie theater according to Aerial Photos from USGS. Today, the drive in has been replaced by a hotel, and stores along a busy road.
Skaters often would sneak off on some nights from skating to go watch the movies at the Air-line Drive-in Theater which was practically right there behind the rink. See photos above. Both of them were gone at the same time. The drive-in closed in 1984 and demolished in 1987 as the same time with the former rink to make way for a hotel and shopping stores located on that property.
They said that the name of the drive-in was used because it was directly pointed to the runway for the air base.
More information, please read below.
Update! -- 25 August 2022.
I received an email from Jennifer. This she is providing correct information. So, the information above has been corrected to her information and will be updating again soon.
Bruce Broyles is my dad and we did build a brand new rink, but it wasn’t a competing rink and it wasn’t across the street. United Skates of America decided not to renew their lease. My dad was hired as the first manager, but he had left after only about 2 years and went to work for [Redacted] in Springfield (he was in sales). The building owner called him and asked if he wanted to lease the building and the equipment he had purchased from United Skates [of America]. He had already entered into a contract to sell his property to a developer, so it would only be a few years. My family ran that rink for 3 years. At the end of our run there in 1989 we had banked money and purchased property about 2 miles away. We built a brand new building and opened Skate Scene USA in June 1990. We closed in August 1999. I’m happy to give you more info if you are interested.
Oh yes, of course, please do send me more information regarding both rinks! Thank you so much Jennifer!
The Interior.
It had Asphalt floor that was pretty much wavy like outdoors. Apparently poor layout when they did that. (Maybe they did not have a steamroller inside because it was being built indoor. But also the cold ground of Northeast US can affect the floor to be wavy. It is much weaker than concrete. That is all I know so far.
The Exterior.
Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock-Walled Warehouse - like Building with a D-shaped Arched-Curved roof.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Asphalt, said to be wavy (poor layout). Floor Layout: Plain.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovated: N/A. Demolished: 1986 to make way for hotel and stores development since the building was already sold.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock-Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: D-shaped Arched-Curved.
Acres: N/A. (part of Drive-in property).
Organ: N/A.
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: 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.
Operated: Likely 1970 or 1971 to c.1986. (One source said 1970s to 1980s but no specifics).
Reason for Closure: Declining roughly same with the Drive-in theater which was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1986. Likely both the same.
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 Dead-Rinks. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Cinemas Treasure - Air-line Drive-in Theater.
USGS - topical map.
email - Jennifer (25 August 2022).
Date of issue: 19 January 2021.
Updated: 25 August 2022.
For Office Only: 3
Worth to visit:
None.
DISCLAIMER:
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.
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.
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 Dead-Rinks are not the property of Dead-Rinks therefore we do not own the rights to the music.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved become property of Dead-Rinks 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: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks, an International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7.
Bruce Broyles built this brand new rink at the time and operated this rink.
Anyone know more about it, please let us know at Dead-Rinks! [email protected].
Right by the intersection of the Massachusetts Turnpike, This United Skates of America was located by the Air-Line Drive-in movie theater according to Aerial Photos from USGS. Today, the drive in has been replaced by a hotel, and stores along a busy road.
Skaters often would sneak off on some nights from skating to go watch the movies at the Air-line Drive-in Theater which was practically right there behind the rink. See photos above. Both of them were gone at the same time. The drive-in closed in 1984 and demolished in 1987 as the same time with the former rink to make way for a hotel and shopping stores located on that property.
They said that the name of the drive-in was used because it was directly pointed to the runway for the air base.
More information, please read below.
Update! -- 25 August 2022.
I received an email from Jennifer. This she is providing correct information. So, the information above has been corrected to her information and will be updating again soon.
Bruce Broyles is my dad and we did build a brand new rink, but it wasn’t a competing rink and it wasn’t across the street. United Skates of America decided not to renew their lease. My dad was hired as the first manager, but he had left after only about 2 years and went to work for [Redacted] in Springfield (he was in sales). The building owner called him and asked if he wanted to lease the building and the equipment he had purchased from United Skates [of America]. He had already entered into a contract to sell his property to a developer, so it would only be a few years. My family ran that rink for 3 years. At the end of our run there in 1989 we had banked money and purchased property about 2 miles away. We built a brand new building and opened Skate Scene USA in June 1990. We closed in August 1999. I’m happy to give you more info if you are interested.
Oh yes, of course, please do send me more information regarding both rinks! Thank you so much Jennifer!
The Interior.
It had Asphalt floor that was pretty much wavy like outdoors. Apparently poor layout when they did that. (Maybe they did not have a steamroller inside because it was being built indoor. But also the cold ground of Northeast US can affect the floor to be wavy. It is much weaker than concrete. That is all I know so far.
The Exterior.
Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock-Walled Warehouse - like Building with a D-shaped Arched-Curved roof.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: Asphalt, said to be wavy (poor layout). Floor Layout: Plain.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovated: N/A. Demolished: 1986 to make way for hotel and stores development since the building was already sold.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock-Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: D-shaped Arched-Curved.
Acres: N/A. (part of Drive-in property).
Organ: N/A.
10 Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Duck Pins Bowling Lanes: None.
Candlestick Bowling Lanes: None.
Pocket Billiard Tables: 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.
Operated: Likely 1970 or 1971 to c.1986. (One source said 1970s to 1980s but no specifics).
Reason for Closure: Declining roughly same with the Drive-in theater which was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1986. Likely both the same.
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 Dead-Rinks. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Cinemas Treasure - Air-line Drive-in Theater.
USGS - topical map.
email - Jennifer (25 August 2022).
Date of issue: 19 January 2021.
Updated: 25 August 2022.
For Office Only: 3
Worth to visit:
None.
DISCLAIMER:
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.
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.
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 Dead-Rinks are not the property of Dead-Rinks therefore we do not own the rights to the music.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved become property of Dead-Rinks 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: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks, an International Commercial Archeology Preservation© Group. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7.