FUN TIMES IN THE OLD WEST

By Caroline Clemmons

Cowboys on roller skates? Believe it!

Did you realize that a craze for roller skating swept across the United States in the 1880s? I hope you enjoy learning about activities which our ancestors enjoyed.

Fancy roller rinks for high society first began to appear in large cities like London and New York. Soon the craze spread to any town with a building large enough to contain throngs of skaters. Where there was no building, they were constructed. The roller rink became a popular meeting place for friends and neighbors, whether or not they skated.

Jean-Joseph Merlin

Jean-Joseph Merlin is credited with inventing skates in1760. The inventor and horologist was born in 1735 in Belgium. His roller skates were without brakes. He introduced his skates at a party in London and promptly crashed into a mirror.

Reminds me of the old Chicago metal skates on which I learned to skate, complete with skate key. This was at my grandmother’s in an older area of town. The sidewalks had shifted and some lifted, so that skating meant jumping parts that jutted into the air. Needless to say, I fell frequently. But in spite of cuts and bruises on my knees, I loved skating.

Credit for invention of roller skates is also given to the Dutch so they could skate during the summer. Dutch rollers were one row of what we would call “in-line” wooden wheels from the heel to toe, like an ice skate blade. Supposedly, even babies wore these skates instead of booties.

Monsieur Pettibled applied for the first patent for roller skates in 1819.

The first public skating rink opened in 1866.

After James Plimpton redesigned the roller skate in 1884 with two parallel sets of wheels, popularity spread. The base cushioned with rubber allowed flexibility. Later, ball bearings were added to the wheels. Toe clamps on the skates had to fasten securely to the outer sole or the skater would fall. Some added leather straps around the instep to be sure the skate stayed on safely. These modifications gave the user a chance of staying upright.  

Opinions were divided on whether roller skating rinks provided the public with “healthful amusement” or were “pits of perdition”, as some preachers claimed. No matter the opinion, roller skating was so popular that rinks were built across the nation.

A report of one rink stated:

“The floor is finished, with the exception of the final sandpapering, and the steam pipes will be put in today. Seats for visitors will be erected on both sides, under which the steam pipes will run, so that those looking on will be comfortable. A stand has been erected in the center of the building above the floor for the use of the band or orchestra. Rooms have been partitioned off for the offices, skate rooms, and the accommodation of skaters.”

In many places three sessions were held daily. Admission to the morning session was ten cents and the skates furnished for free. The afternoon session cost ten cents and the skates an added ten cents. For the evening session from seven to ten o’clock, cost was fifteen cents and the skates were ten cents. They might also have a session only for ladies or a young people’s session. Objectionable persons were not admitted.

Before the concept of roller derbies, would you have considered roller skating a spectator sport? Many people came to watch the skaters and listen to the music. Since not everyone who went to the rink skated, the manager booked attractions to entertain the spectators and keep their interest. Examples of these included a skating exhibition, a play, a magician, or a carnival night where skaters came in costume.

Besides the joy of skating and having fun as couples or in groups, special songs and music centered around skating became popular. New songs such as “Roller Waltz”, “Fun on Roller Skates Polka”, “Roller Skate Gallop”, and “Girl on the Roller Skates” were some of the music and lyrics that became popular. My favorite is “Skaters’ Waltz”, written in 1882 by French composer Emile Waldteufel.

Here’s what one of my favorite western columnists, J R. Sanders, has to say:

Roller-skating was instantly popular with young ladies of all social strata, who relished gliding through waltzes and quadrilles with wheels on their feet. Parents and politicians looked askance, worried the fad fostered undue familiarity between the sexes. Doctors were divided— considering it either healthful diversion or downright dangerous. Some clergymen condemned it as a sure pathway to Hell. With all that going for it, how could any red-blooded cowboy resist?

In its heyday that quintessential cow town and acknowledged Gomorrah of the Plains, Dodge City, Kan., had a roller rink. Owned by Dr. Thomas McCarty, it doubled as an opera house and, on occasion, a church. Kansans weren’t alone in their passion for the sport; El Paso had a rink, likewise Cheyenne and Omaha. Montana Territory was ahead of the trend with the Helena Skating Pavilion, built in early 1883, which boasted a 65-by-100-foot maple floor “almost as smooth and hard as glass” and three-tiered wraparound galleries for spectators. A year later the pavilion hosted an “apple race,” with skaters scrambling to be first to collect 21 apples from the rink floor and drop them in a bucket.

One account of 1885 life in Medora, Dakota Territory, noted, “A roller-skating rink, whose equipment was more to be feared by a cowboy than the hurricane-deck of a cow pony, was doing big business among the cattlemen.” In Cheyenne a drunken cowboy who couldn’t master his skates tried instead to ride his horse onto the rink floor. An attendant seized the animal’s bridle and gave horse and rider the heave-ho, informing the besotted buckaroo that if he returned, “the coroner would have a professional call.”

Skates stymied more than the hapless cowpoke. Texas lawman Stephen Boyard found them tougher than a gang of desperadoes. The October 29, 1884, Daily Laredo Times reported, “Marshal Boyard now takes his meals from the mantle shelf, and when asked the reason why, he gazes sadly at a pair of roller skates, asks you to occupy the official chair and braces himself against the telephone, but he says not a word.” Deputy Sheriff Fred Singer, a former Dodge City marshal, entered a skating competition at McCarty’s rink a week before Christmas, during which, reported the Dodge City Times, he “cut some funny evolutions, ‘lighting’ frequently on all fours.” Other lawmen fared better. In Las Cruces, New Mexico Territory, Doña Ana County Sheriff Eugene Van Patten’s “roller mania” was such that he patronized the local rink most nights, looking “as if he were having more fun than a boy at a circus.” Van Patten enjoyed skating so much that in fall 1885 he built a competing roller rink.

 

Just like fads today, the roller skating craze disappeared until the 1940s and 1950s. Wouldn’t it be fun to go skating?

 

Sources:

https://www.familytree.com/blog/the-fun-our-ancestors-had-in-1880s/

https://www.historynet.com/hell-wheels-roller-skating-took-western-towns-storm.htm

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/30/first-roller-skates-invented-1760-man-called-john-joseph-merlin/

https://gardnerlibrary.org/encylopedia/1880s-roller-skating-craze#:~:text=A%20roller%20skating%20craze%20swept%20the%20country%20in%20the%201880s.&text=An%20experienced%20manager%20was%20on,erected%20in%20Carlisle%20in%201884.

http://stcroixhistorical.com/?p=1825

To read a western historical romance which includes roller skating, pre-order your copy of ADELINE now at https://www.amzn.com/B091YYGPLV. 

ADELINE releases Monday, June 1. It will also be in Kindle Unlimited. Bachelors & Babies were first. Now those babies are growing up in Cupids and Cowboys. Don't miss this humorous, sweet story of a young woman and her best friend playing Cupid--with sometimes disastrous results.

Is It Eagle Cottage-or Eagle Cotage? by Zina Abbott

Eagle Cottage – or Cotage, as it is more popularly known – was built on Washington Street in the early days of the California gold mining town of Columbia.

There is controversy over the proper name of Eagle Cottage or Cotage. Some claim the building was named correctly as Eagle Cottage, but on a 1855 lithograph of the town, the artist shortened it to Cotage in order to fit the name on the sign out front. However, the name Eagle Cotage is printed below the picture on the lithograph. Others claim because the building was a boardinghouse that rented out cots rather than rooms, the name Eagle Cotage is correct—not a misspelling—and was the name from the beginning.

Although not included in the timeline for when Eagle Cotage was on Washington Street, there is a record that Mrs. A. Arnold did own and manage the Eagle Cotage in the 1850s. Since the building was moved from another location to Washington Street, she could have owned it prior to its move.        

The building on Washington Street was destroyed in the fires of 1854, 1857, and 1861. After the third fire, it was not rebuilt again until 1960 after the California bought the property in Columbia and began to restore it to the appearance of an 1850s gold mining town.

 

Eagle Cotage

In 1854, Wm. Odenheimer and Thaddeus W. Northey bought the property from Duncan and McClenahan. Odenheimer moved his Eagle Cottage boarding house to the property and into a larger building. It took care of 100 boarders and had a barber shop in the northeast corner so the tenants could spruce up for a night on the town. The building on the lot burned in the July 10, 1854 fire. It was rebuilt by July 23.

In 1855, a lithograph of important buildings in Columbia was created. It is assumed that the lithographer, due to a lack of space, just etched the word "Cotage" in the sign. That was where the controversy began, since this lithograph seems to be the earliest printed record regarding the building. There is no real documentation that the building's sign was misspelled.

1856 Northey sold his interest to Isaac A. Stevens. (Odenheimer was drinking heavily. Where that tidbit of information came from, I’m not sure. My guess is, it was shared in the Columbia Gazette which published a weekly in 1856. In spite of the fires that destroyed much in Columbia, editions of that newspaper for 1856 were saved somewhere and are available on microfilm.)

On April 4, 1857, Soderer and Marshall bought the property at a sheriff's sale and leased it to Charles Bombauer. By August 25th, it was again destroyed by fire. The lot was purchased by Bombauer who rebuilt it. However, in 1859, the lot reverted to Soderer and Marshall after Bombauer failed to pay the mortgage. In February 1860, M.D.Kimball leased the Cottage. In April, Mrs. C. Bronson ran the business.

Side View of Eagle Cottage

In July 1961, the building was again destroyed by fire. In October of the next year, the vacant lot was sold to James Griffiths, Tim Hayes, and Tom Hayes. The Eagle Cottage/Cotage was not rebuilt.

Since Washington Street borders the gold-rich Maine Gulch (Maine Ditch, Matelot Gulch) part of town, like much of Columbia, the site was mined in 1871 and then abandoned.

Fast-forward to the twentieth century when the decision is made for California to purchase the main part of Columbia and restore it to its 1850s glory as a gold mining town to become part of the state’s historic parks system. In 1950, the state purchased the empty lot from Luckows, Nicolas and Peterson.

In 1960, using the 1855 lithograph as a guide, the building was reconstructed with money from the College of the Pacific and the state. It was used by College of the Pacific drama students in summer repertory at the theater for the first time in summer, 1960. In May 1961 the building was officially dedicated. The word "Eagle Cotage" is placed in the sign which replicates the image in the 1855 lithograph.

It presently houses the park rangers’ offices and a meeting room for docents.

In my book, Kendrick, scheduled to be released February 1, 2020, I refer to Mrs. Arnold who runs the Eagle Cottage. I used Cottage in this book primarily because that word would be more familiar to most readers and not appear to be a misspelling which might detract from the story. 

Kendrick is Book 9 in the popular Bachelors & Babies multi-author series. It will have a subtitle of “Too Old for Babies” since it is also part of my own Too Old in Columbia series. To find the book description and preorder purchase link, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here is a snippet from the book involving Mrs. Arnold:

…The only thing that had saved him today had been the appearance of Mrs. Arnold, who ran the Eagle Cottage boardinghouse. He had been busy cleaning up Madeline when he heard a worried female voice in front calling out his name. It was then he recalled that Jeb had put up the closed sign and shut the door, but the door had remained unlocked.

            Not knowing what else to do with the baby, now barely out of the hip bath and in the process of being dried off, he flung her to his shoulder and tossed her yellow blanket which, fortunately, had escaped the disaster that had blown out of her diapers. Thus, he entered the front room where a wide-eyed middle-aged woman exclaimed at the sight of him carrying a baby. He laughed as he recalled her words. “Oh, Mr. Denham. When so much time passed, and you didn’t show up with my meat order, I worried there had been an accident. I thought, maybe you had cut off one of your fingers or something. I decided I better come and check on you.”

            Truth of the matter was, Kendrick probably could have dealt with a chopped-off finger better than what he went through undressing, wiping clean, and then bathing Madeline. However, after he explained an abbreviated version of that day’s events, the woman took pity on him.

            She told him she would take her meat order with her and get supper started. She also offered to watch Madeline that afternoon while he delivered the rest of his orders.

            Before she left his shop, she even risked her reputation to enter his bedroom to help him dress the baby. She showed him how to fold diapers to fit around Madeline’s bottom and explained how the knit wool outer pants helped keep things drier. Mrs. Arnold even revealed the mystery of how safety pins worked to hold everything in place.

Sources:

http://www.columbiagazette.com/eaglehist.html

http://visitcolumbiacalifornia.com/history-eagle-cotage-building/

Phillips, Rachel, Self-guided tour of Columbia proper, Columbia State Historic Park; 2019

Koeppel, Columbia California: On the Gold Dust Trail; Malakoff & Co. Publishing: La Habra, California:2005