Arcadia Roller Rink
Arcadia Ballroom
4432-4456 North Broadway
Opened 1910
Opened in 1910 as a combination dance hall and skating rink, the Arcadia Ballroom, situated along the west side of Broadway just north of Montrose Avenue, was one of the Uptown district's best known entertainment destinations.
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Dorothy Wosilus, roller derby skater from the Arcadia rink..
But no ride has been as wild as that of Dorothy Wosilus, a 1940s Roller Derby queen. And stuntwoman. And horticulturalist. And piano teacher. And organ teacher, although no one bothers to learn how to play the organ anymore. Wosilus, 76, still plays sweet music.
``When I started skating, I used to be at the end of the pack,'' Wosilus says while sitting still in her basement. ``I used to think how I couldn't keep up. But I took it step by step. I got to be (Roller Derby) captain.''
Wosilus was born on the North Side. Her father was a milkman, her mother died when she was 2. Wosilus was skating at the Arcadia rink on Montrose Avenue when she was spotted by Roller Derby scouts. They invited her to try out. She told the scouts she was 18. She really was 14.
