Congressional Roller Skating Rink
Do you remember this popular Rockville destination from decades back? Once located at 140 W. Bouic Ave, adjacent to Congressional Plaza off of Rockville Pike, this airplane hangar turned roller skating rink drew local crowds from 1956 to 1983.
Roller skating gained popularity in the 1930s, but it evolved and changed throughout the decades. To start, rinks typically played organ music, but eventually merged with disco music to create “roller disco.”
While some rinks played records at the rink, Congressional Roller Skating Rink chose to continue with organ music. Ronnie Mandel, former manager of the Rockville rink, told the Washington Post in 1978, “We were thinking of playing rock records, but our people didn’t respond to this.”
Sadly, the rink was bulldozed in 1984 to make way for new development. A Hilton Hotel now stands where the old rink once was.
Roller skating has since declined in popularity as rinks closed around the area. However, the hobby has now been on the rise because of the social media app Tik Tok. So if you still have your roller skates in the back of your closet, you may want to dust them off!
Photo courtesy of Forgotten Roller Rinks of the Past.
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1 comment
There are a couple roller skating rinks up in Hagerstown still