A Brief History and a few Memories of North Avenue Rollerway
by Jim Norini and Deb Damen

Deb and I thought we would make an attempt at writing a brief history of the rink to share with all our friends tonight. Deb because she fancies herself as a novelist, me because I had spent the last forty years listening to stories as told by Steve, Verlin and Tom.

Disclaimer: Before reading the history, I want you to know that I wasn't around for the first twenty years, I am just relating the stories as told to me. I want you to know that most the stories had more than one version, usually three, then of course we chose to embellish them, just a bit.

It was the 1930's, the young entrepreneurs Steve and Verlin Seipp were living in Gary, Indiana. They had tried a dry goods store, a butcher shop, Steve even tried writing songs. When they weren't working Verlin liked to roller skate, and would coax Steve into taking her skating. As she tells it, she was the skater, "Steve couldn't skate if his life depended on it, but you know Steve, after a few times around he was teaching me how to skate", she would say. That was Verlin's version and here's Steve's. "I hated to skate that wasn't fun to me, I just went along to keep her happy, but she was going around the rink enjoying the music, I stood on the side watching. I didn't see people having fun I saw quarters going around the floor." That night going home it his Steve that they had found something in common, why not open a roller rink, Verlin can skate whenever she wants, that will make her happy. I'll be happy counting those quarters.

They had saved a little money from their businesses. Steve had a job in the steel mills and was able to put a little aside each week, maybe Verlin's Mother and Dad would help, so the decision was made to open a roller rink.

The search began for a location. Verlin wanted to stay in Gary near her family, Steve wanted to get out of "this one horse town", go back to Chicago and give it a try. Well as usual Verlin's will prevailed and they found a location just outside of Gary.

They worked hard to fix up the building they had leased. Steve with Verlin right alongside of him, patched the floor, put in the sound system, built walls, counters, and scrubbed down the rest rooms. Anticipation grew as they neared opening. All that they needed was a fresh coat of paint and they were in business. By now they had spent all of their savings, so when the paint store proprietor offered them a special price on an over stocked silver paint, they took it. So in 1935 they opened the Silver Rollerway in Gary, Indiana.

Steve was right about Gary being a one horse town, as long as the steel mills were doing well, the rink did well. When the mills were down business was down, so they built a portable floor, bought a used tent and took their roller rink on the road. Mill Beach, Indiana was a popular spot so they set up there for the summer.  Steve taught himself to play the organ, Verlin sold the tickets, worked the snack bar, gave out skates and frequently snuck out on the floor for the fox-trot.  As the Depression deepened, business got worse, even traveling around wasn't bringing in enough money to live. Steve and Verlin made the decision to return to Chicago where Steve was from and set up the roller rink there.