The proposed revival of a roller skating rink in Oak Bluffs calls to mind the grandeur of the one that occupied a place of honor in that town from 1878 to 1892.

Roller skating became a craze in the early 1870’s, and the first roller rink in the country was built in Worcester by a wealthy promoter named Samuel Winslow who had invented a new and improved type of skate, in 1876. The idea caught on with great speed, and by the time the rink at Oak Bluffs was completed, just about every able-bodied individual in the country was swooping around on roller skates.

The Vineyard Skating Rink, now transformed into the “Cottage City Casino,” equipped with stage and scenery and furnished with comfortable seating, is likely to prove one of the most popular institutions of Cottage City. Mr. H. E. Reed, a wide-awake gentleman of proved executive ability, is the manager, and has already opened the ball with a week of comic opera.