close

Ice skating just isn’t what it used to be

8 min read

Today’s article by Glenn Tunney is the third of a three-part series that originally appeared in the Herald-Standard in January 2005.

Ice skating in the days before the popularity of indoor facilities was an outdoor adventure, whether it took place at a manmade outdoor rink or on a frozen natural body of water. Mine reservoirs, the Monongahela River, and various ponds and lakes in the area provided many afternoons and evenings of winter fun for enthusiastic skaters.

Sometimes forgotten is the fact that ice which formed on lakes and ponds, unlike ice at modern artificially refrigerated indoor rinks, was usually a rough and difficult skating surface. For that reason, the first skaters on the scene often toted brooms and shovels to clear the snow and smooth the ice to make it fit for skating.

After reading our first two ice skating articles, Hiller native Harry Hackney emailed, “I never had ice skates, because I never knew of a place to skate. Ice that freezes naturally is usually so rough it is impossible to skate on. Even manmade rinks need regular grooming or they become terrible. The surface needs to be flooded and allowed to refreeze on cold windless nights.”

One manmade outdoor ice rink that was popular in the 1950s and 60s was located at Brownsville-Luzerne Community Park. Darla Pichard, now of Palm Bay, Fla., lived on Telegraph Road in those days. The park was just a short walk from her family’s home.

“My brother, mother and I used to walk to Luzerne Park to ice skate on the pond,” Darla said. “We were only allowed on the little pond, because it was not too deep. We had to carry our ice skates and either a broom or a shovel to clear the ice.”

Ray Smith of Rock Hill, S.C., also frequented the park in the winter months. Like Darla, he chose to skate on what he called the “small lake” rather than on the park’s larger fishing lake.

“I am guessing it was in the late 50s,” Ray recalled, “that we would go skating on the ‘small’ lake at Luzerne Park. If you were standing with your back to the flagpole on top of the hill, looking towards the large lake, the small lake would have been on your left, down over the hill at the extreme lowest level of the park. If you remember the driving range that was there at one time, it was over the hill just to the right of the driving range.

“The big lake was never skated on because it was too deep to be sure it was safe. I remember upwards of 20 or more people used to skate at the small lake on any given night or weekend. My father, Ray Smith, used to bring old tires from the garage where he worked. We would roll them down the hill from the road to the small lake and set them on fire with railroad flares. We shoveled the snow off the lake every time it snowed, creating big piles along the edges of the lake.”

One area of the park was specifically altered to allow ice skating. On Monday, Jan. 20, 1958, the Brownsville Telegraph reported, “A half-acre site at the Brownsville-Luzerne Community Park has been cleared and flooded with water, and the recent cold weather has resulted in formation of a fine skating rink. Hundreds of local youngsters have taken advantage of the new skating site. Youngsters are warned not to skate on the fishing lake at the park. The water in the lake is deep, and a fall through the ice could prove fatal.”

Ice skating on frozen lakes and ponds could indeed be hazardous. Nevertheless, danger did not deter determined (or foolhardy) skaters. During frigid weather, ice surfaces from Brier Hill to Filbert teemed with bundled-up boys and girls seeking winter fun. Brownsville native Lucy Tharpe Karslake, now of Hudson, Ohio, sent me a 1950 photograph of herself in ice skates, standing on the snow-covered ice of Brier Hill lake. In the photo’s background, several company houses can be seen perched on the hillside. “I have no idea how we knew the lake was safe for skating,” Lucy confessed, “as we were the only ones on the lake that day.”

Filbert native Wes Campbell, now of Austin, Texas, skated on a pond near Filbert. “We used to skate on a pond along the railroad tracks just below the mine, between Filbert 1 and Orient,” Wes explained. “We called it the ‘big pond.’ It usually froze over quickly, and it was a blast skating through the forest of cat tails. Before all the cat tails got knocked down, we would cut paths through them and have races similar to automotive road races.”

Skaters today are willing to pay an admission fee to skate on mechanically refrigerated ice surfaces, the first of which, the Glaciarium in London, opened to the public in 1876. Of course, there were no artificial ice rinks in this area over a century ago, but an enterprising businessman could make a buck by providing an attractive outdoor venue where one could skate on naturally formed, carefully groomed ice. Such a place existed near Brownsville several decades before the Glaciarium opened. The Brownsville entrepreneur was Peter Hunt, and his rink was famous in this area.

“Peter Hunt’s Famous Skating Rink” existed “some 40 or more years ago,” wrote J. Percy Hart in his book “History and Directory of the Three Towns.” Hart penned those words in 1904, which tells us that Hunt’s rink was in use during the 1860s or earlier. Hart wrote, “One of the most famous pleasure resorts here some 40 or more years ago was the skating rink of Peter Hunt, who was himself a unique and interesting character. This rink was located on what was for many years known as the second bottom and stood near the fill and stone bridge of the Connellsville Central R. R., now building up Dunlap’s Creek.”

In those days, there were many mills along Dunlap’s Creek. They took advantage of the creek’s free waterpower to turn their large water wheels, which in turn drove the mill’s gears and grindstones. Peter Hunt’s ice rink was located near a mill race, which enabled Hunt to create a fresh surface on his rink each day.

“Mr. Hunt flooded his rink every day during the winter,” explained J. Percy Hart, “taking water from the mill race and thus provided an excellent skating surface.”

Hunt also provided for the comfort and entertainment of the skaters, which explains why they were willing to pay to use his rink rather than take their chances on a pond near their home.

“He had a little house well provided with stoves in which skaters could warm and put on or take off their skates,” Hart noted. “The old Grooms Band, led by Dr. Grooms, furnished excellent music, and many was the merry lad and lass who glided over the smooth surface of that rink to the enchanting strains of Dr. Grooms’ music.”

Kids in those days were just as mischievous as they are nowadays, as evidenced by their treatment of the elderly caretaker of Peter Hunt’s rink.

“Outside the door of the little house,” wrote Hart, “Mr. Hunt kept a thermometer. An old Scotchman who usually swept the rink attached much importance to this thermometer. If it indicated extreme cold he would go in often to warm, but if the mercury was above freezing he was positive it was not cold, no matter how he felt.

“Not infrequently the boys played tricks on the old man. They would hold the bulb of the thermometer in their hands till the mercury would climb up into the sixties. It is said that one cold day the old man was almost frozen, but when he looked at the thermometer and saw that the mercury stood far above freezing, he shambled, shivering, back to his work, murmuring that he did not know what was the matter with him as he could not stand the cold as well as he once did.”

Ice skating is a sport that has been popular around here for several centuries, but it has become a very different pastime since the introduction of commercial indoor rinks, artificially produced ice, and prerecorded background music. Ah, for the good old days of warming next to a pile of stinking burning tires; toting brooms and shovels to the nearest pond; skating through an obstacle course of protruding cattails; and occasionally crashing through the ice into the freezing water.

Yes, readers, it’s true.

Ice skating just isn’t what it used to be.

“LOOKING BACK: The Best of GlennTunney” is now on sale. Already in the 3rd printing since its October 2010release, the book features 300 pages of local history and nostalgia and morethan 40 vintage photos. It is the first of a planned 5-volume set of collectedGlenn Tunney articles and photographs that originally appeared in theHerald-Standard from 1998-2006. All proceeds from sales of this book are beingdonated by the author to BARC (Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation) tosupport historic preservation and community redevelopment in the BrownsvilleArea. The book may be purchased with your credit card by calling BARC at724-785-9331 and may also be purchased at the following locations: BARC officein the Flatiron Building, Brownsville; Brownsville Free Public Library; andFayette Chamber of Commerce, 65 West Main Street, Uniontown. Cost of the bookis $19.95 plus tax (and shipping/handling ifapplicable).

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today