Old Mill Skating Rink, 8234 VA-14, Gloucester, Virginia

• Manager: Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Hogge[2] (1939-1974), Mr. & Mrs. H. S. "Buddy" Kirschbaum (1974[3]-1986)[5]
• Pro/Coach: George Roebling (1939)[7]
• Organist: Paul Nelson (1939)[4], Nick Nevels (1942)[6]
• Floor size: [?]
• Floor type: Wood
• Primary reason for closing: Insurance cost.
"You'd really have to do volume business just to pay the insurance and still make a profit."[5]
• Opened: 1939 - 1986[5]

"Back in the day, the first floor of this building housed, among other things, a bowling alley. That top floor, reached by going around back, was Heaven on Earth, The Skating Rink."[7]
" It was obvious from the first that there was a need to expand the rink and remove the pole from the skating floor. "[7]

"It was obvious from the first that there was a need to
expand the rink and remove the pole from the skating floor."[7]

Bowling opens below rink, on the ground floor.



The Kirschbaums purchased the rink in 1974/5.


Excessive insurance rates has ended too many rinks.




Today (Image courtesy Google)

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Sources

(1)Daily Press Sat Aug 26, 2006 (see In Memoriam)
(2)Daily Press Fri Mar 15, 2019 (see In Memoriam)
(3)Daily Press Wed Feb 23, 1983 (above)
(4)Daily Press Oct 13, 1939 (above)
(5)Daily Press Feb 15, 1986 (above)
(6)Daily Press May 16, 1942
(7)Parts I & 2 of Mr. Bill Braxton's description of the Old Mill Skating Rink in the late 1930s to early 1940s
(See HISTORY links above)
http://lifeinmathews.blogspot.com/2010/02/old-mill-skating-rink-part-i.html
http://lifeinmathews.blogspot.com/2010/02/old-mill-skating-rink-pt-ii.html

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