140 years of roller skating in Winnipeg Part 2 - Early 1900s

© 2022, Christian Cassidy

Part 1: Pre-1900
Part 2: The early 1900s
Part 3: The Depression and post-war years
Part 4: A 1970s explosion
Part 5: The people

Winnipeg went another decade without a roller skating rink until another cluster of venues came along in the early 1900s.


Arlington Rink (October 1906 - October 1908)

September 15, 1908, Winnipeg Tribune

In October 1906, the Arlington Roller Rink, (initially referred to as the Winnipeg Roller Rink), opened with little fanfare under the management of John Cotton on Arlington Street near Portage Avenue.

The venue offered morning, afternoon, and evening sessions six days a week and early ads promised "competent and polite instructors always in attendance". The only mention of the rink in the daily papers were the weekly ads taken out by the management.

Mr. A. McIvor, manager of the Wesley skating rink, purchased the venue in early 1908 and it reopened under his management on May 1. McIvor preferred the name "Arlington Rink" for the venue.

The Arlington was one of two rinks that competed with each until a court case over the ownership of the building saw it close in October 1908.


Auditorium Rink (May 1907 - September 1907)

June 10, 1907, Winnipeg Tribune

In August 1906, a Toronto man named Fred Ryan leased the Auditorium hockey rink from Charles Sharpe and annoucned he would convert it into a roller skating venue. Renovations fell behind schedule and it hosted one more winter of hockey.

Work resumed on the conversion in March under a new ownership group: the Happyland Company that ran the Happyland amusement park in Winnipeg.

The Arena Roller Rink opened on Monday, May 6, 1907.  It was reported that the "interior has been completely transformed into an attractive summer dress for the little wheel skates". That summer dress included hued lights and palm trees. The 15,000 square foot floor was large enough to hold 600 skaters and the band was located in the middle of the floor.

It is unclear if the rink lasted longer than a few weeks. Advertising for roller skating stopped in late June and non-skating events like a two-week trade show and a carnival was held there. There was a week of roller skating reintroduced on September 2nd but hockey was back on the schedule for the winter and there is no further mention of roller skating at the venue.

Happyland also began advertising roller skating as one of its attractions at its Wolseley amusement park in June 1907. This was likely in its hall which also had a couple of bowling lanes and acted as a theatre and concert venue.

The amusement park went bankrupt in August 1908 and new owners bought it at auction. When it reopened in May 1909, it was a shadow of its former self and relied mostly on its outdoor sports fields as entertainment.

One paper noted that the "the old dance hall and roller rink have disappeared". This was in favour of a new open air theatre that ended up being used mainly as a beer garden during the baseball season.


Arena Rink (June 1908 - August 1925 - seasonal)

August 27, 1908, Winnipeg Tribune

The Arena Rink was an ice rink located on Bannatyne Avenue west of the General Hospital since at least 1906. In the spring of 1908, a new floor was laid so that it could host roller skating. Little was written about the venue other than "the new floor is reported to be in fine shape."

Owner James Bell was aware that a stand-alone roller skating facility would likely not last.

For the first couple of seasons roller skating took place afternoons and evenings with the exception of Friday nights which was reserved for a dance. A spring and summer skating season was held and the venue usually closed for a few weeks at the peak of summer. From November through February ir reverted back to a hockey rink.

November 10, 1925, Winnipeg Tribune

 The Arena appears to have relied less on gimmicks than some of its predecessors. There was the odd carnival or special exhibition by folks like American champion Harley Davidson, though these seem to have been special occasions rather than weekly or monthly events.

Roller skating seems to have matured during this time as during the Arena's run it began hosting the annual Manitoba Roller Skating Championships for everything from figure skating to speed skating.

Remarkably, the Arena Rink operated for seventeen seasons. It advertised until late September 1925 and the following month went bankrupt. The building and its contents, including the roller skates, were sold off in November and it never reopened.