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Man-made Rinks Escalated Ice Skating Craze

Man-made Rinks fueled the already popular sport of ice skating into a full-blown obsession across Europe and North America. Exquisite outfits, improvements in skates, elaborate social scenes and exciting competitions all contributed to the frenzy. But it was man-made rinks that propelled skaters into double axels.

Following are a few quirky tidbits that few people know about Man-made Rinks and the soaring popularity of what once was strictly a winter sport.

The “Little Ice Age” Promoted Ice Skating

Before man-made rinks, frozen ponds created by the Little Ice Age helped popularize ice skating.

Javier Barbuzano writes for EOS (Science News Magazine published by AGU – A global community of advocates Advancing Earth and Space Sciences) that the Little Ice Age was a period of exceptionally bitter winters along with mild summers experienced across Europe and North America. Between 1600 and 1814 it was not uncommon for the River Thames to freeze for up to two months at a time.

“The cold weather is well documented in written records and supported by paleoclimatic records such as tree rings, glacial growth, and lake sediments.”  (EOS Science News Magazine)

When rivers were thick enough with ice, people used them like roads for transportation. In some places Ice Festivals or Frost Festivals were set up on frozen waterways. Vendors sold food and hot drinks.

According to Ben Johnson of Historic UK  there were seven major fairs and countless smaller ones.

“These Frost Fairs would have been quite a spectacle, full of hastily constructed shops, pubs, ice skating rinks… everything that you would expect in the crowded streets of London but on ice… There were football pitches, bowling matches, fruit-sellers, shoemakers, barbers… even a pub or two. To keep the shopkeepers warm, there were even fires within their tents.” (Historic UK)

Ice skating was popular both for transportation and for fun.

Technical Improvements Produced Safer Skates

Whether on man-made rinks or naturally frozen water, the new-and-improved “foot sleds” made ice-skating safer, more precise and more fun.

Dating back to the 1400s, basic Dutch skate design with sharpened metal blades had remained the standard for nearly 400 years. That had liberated skaters to push off with the toe instead of using long poles as in skiing.

By 1866, Dartmouth’s Starr Manufacturing Company invented a game-changing ice skate.

Shannon Baxter of Dartmouth Heritage Museum writes that the sharpened blades of the early skates were attached to the bottom of a boot typically with leather straps, which were not secure. By the early 1800s, the blades were attached to the bottom of boots with screws for more stability.

“The Acme Spring Skate was revolutionary; since it clamped to a boot with a spring-lock mechanism. This created a secure fit but didn’t require a skater to ruin a good pair of boots. (Dartmouth Heritage Museum)

This revolutionary design was a great success for the Starr Company.

“By the end of 1866, the Acme Spring Skate was the most sought-after skate on the market. The company developed several styles of skates, which were sold nationally and internationally. Even the King of Spain owned a pair, although his plated in gold.” (Dartmouth Heritage Museum)

It’s no surprise that the ice skating craze vaulted to new heights both in America and across Europe.

On a side note, developments in the technology of shoes eventually emancipated the human foot. Prior to 1817, shoes were the same shape, with no accommodation for mirrored left and right feet. In 1854, right and left shoes were perfected for soldiers to during the Crimean War. By the late 1800s, a few trailblazing women wore emerging Victorian tennis shoes for all types of outdoor pursuits. (More Here)

Indoor Rinks Had A Slippery Start

People slid across frozen bodies of water for an estimated 4,000 years in areas including Scandinavia and parts of China. Advances through the 1800s soared ice skating to new popularity.

People wanted ice year round and the race for a man-made rink began.

Hoping to capitalize on the emerging hobby, British inventor Henry Kirk used a mix of salts and pig fat to create the first artificial ice rink in London in 1841. It was something of a success, although it smelled of lard and the freezing process produced a thick mist that proved unpopular with skaters.

Kirk opened other man-made rinks, including one that floated at Charing Cross in London. By 1878 he closed them due to lackluster ticket sales.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, John Gamgee opened the first permanent, mechanically frozen ice rink in London on January 7, 1876.

Gamgee had experimented with means of freezing meat for long journeys at sea. In 1870 he patented a method that he later adapted to create his Glaciarium.

“Inside a canvas tent off the Kings Road in Chelsea, Gamgee laid a concrete floor measuring c. 5 x 7 m (16 x 24 ft) over which he spread an insulating layer of earth, cow hair, tar and wooden planks; on top of this, he laid copper pipes through which a mixture of glycerin, ether, nitrogen peroxide and water was pumped by steam engine. Water was then poured on top to a depth of around 5–8 cm (2–3 in), which would eventually freeze and provide the rink’s solid surface.” (Guinness Book)

The Albion wrote in May of 1876:

“The latest London madness has infected the country and soon no provincial town will be without its rink.”

According to the SkateGuard blog:

By the middle of the 1800s, “…ice skating was a firm British favourite, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert themselves used ice skating trips to get to know each other more.”

Ice skating and man-made rinks were popular in Moscow as well. For many years, ice skating was an elite sport with high-quality skates, lessons from professional trainers and tickets to man-made rinks commanding high prices.

“A visit to one of Moscow’s rinks of the me was a sight to behold: expensively clad ladies twirled around in their big puffy skirts to the popular music of the me while their cavaliers, dressed in more athletic fare, raced each other back and forth. All sorts of social events such as masquerades, New Year and Maslennitsa (or Pancake Week — celebrating the beginning of spring) took place on ice. “ (SkateGuard)

Skating indoors became as popular as indoor swimming at the Sutro Baths in San Francisco. As in America and other countries across Europe, by the late 1800s there was no shortage of man-made rinks.

A Way To Escape Chaperones And The Ladies’ Pond In Central Park

The Ladies’ Pond allowed those females who towed the social lines of propriety to enjoy ice skating without a chaperone.

Frederick Law Olmsted’s and Calvert Vaux’s original Greensward plan for New York’s Central Park included a skating pond. With the lake connected to the city’s water system, it was drained to a suitable level to allow freezing each year to ensure optimum skating conditions.

Even before the park was completed in the 1870s, the man-made rink was one of its top attractions.

Not as widely known was their beautiful, more secluded pond that was reserved for ladies only. In a time when youth were not allowed to mingle without chaperones, few places were available to single females. While it should have been a raging success, it was abandoned in 1870.

Nicole Saraniero writes for Untapped Cities/New York that the opposite occurred for good reason.

In the restricted society of Victorian New York, ice skating provided an activity where societal rules could be stretched, especially in regard to the behavior between men and women. On the ice, while chaperones were at a safe distance on land, single men and women could hold hands, lean on each other for support, and have private conversations.” (Untapped New York)

And of course, fashion played an important role in the festivities.

As with other developing sports, women were expected to wear a version of their street clothes. Proper outfits included floor-sweeping skirts, petticoats and high-necked blouses with long sleeves, stockings, bustles and tight corsets. Range of motion and comfort were unimportant when propriety was at stake. 

But Dress Reformers were cheerleaders for rational clothing design from more new streamlined  tennis costumes to sleek swimsuits that were considered outlandish by many.

“Ladies could also show a bit of ankle in their shorter skating skirts, something that would have been scandalous off the ice.” (Untapped New York)

Not to be outdone, the park system opened other bodies of water for ice skating. Among them were Brooklyn, McCarren Park, Prospect Park, Sunset Park, and Commodore Barry Park.

“…ice skating was so popular in the 19th century that a tradition of “raising the red ball” on Brooklyn streetcars was created to indicate favorable skating conditions at Prospect Park.” (New York Parks)

Figure Skating Jumped To New Heights In The Edwardian Era

The sport flourished to new levels of elagance as it became a fad in high social circles. Man-made rinks including the National Skating Palace, the ice rink at Niagara Hall and Prince’s Skating Club played host to important moments in figure skating during the Edwardian era.

Canadian author Ryan Stevens writes in the skateguard blog that outdoor skating resorts in Davos, St. Moritz and Wiener Eislaufverein in Vienna are considered to be the cradle of modern figure skating. But it was the man-made rinks in London where the sport’s “power brokers” rubbed elbows with high society.

The National Skating Palace opened on January 11, 1896, under James Drake Digby, the Secretary of the National Skating Association. The venue reached a new high for man-made rinks.

“It was a vision of Victorian opulence, open from eleven in the morning until eleven at night, with eleven thousand feet of artificial ice, electric lights and a representation of the Aurora Borealis painted on the ceiling.” (skateguardblog)

The venue offered a circular gallery, lounge, a tea room and an observation balcony with dressing rooms.”

Skate Guard blog posts from the January 1904 edition of The English Illustrated Magazine wrote:

“The ring of steel strikes on the ear, and advancing to the balcony rail we look down on the great rink below, where (if it be the fashionable hour) a crowd of men and women disport themselves ‘on thousand skates a thousand different ways.'”

On February 3, 1896, the Sydney Mail printed “A Lady’s Letter From London’

“The ice is simply perfect and the whole arrangement of the place, the prettiness of the scene, and the comfort prepared for those who go only to look on made it popular at once. The charges – 5s admission in the afternoon and 3s in the evening – keep out the unruly crowd and learners, and some really fine skating can always be seen there.” 

Ice Skaters Entered Olympic Events

Thanks in part to reliable man-made rinks figure skating was included in the Summer Olympic Games in 1908 and became part of the Winter Games in 1924.

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