Elmhurst History Museum exhibit celebrates roller skating

Venetia Wagner started roller skating when she was 3.

Now, 76 years later, she's still skating with her 79-year-old friend Carol Loreth.

On a recent summer afternoon, Venetia, Carol and Carol's older sister, Barbara Ballantine (also a skater back in the day), decided to take a trip down memory lane at Elmhurst History Museum's new exhibit called Chicago Rink Rats.

"I just love skating," Wagner said. "I'll probably skate until I'm 100, if I live that long."

The Rink Rats exhibit goes back to the "Golden Age" of roller skating in the Chicago area, showcasing its transformation from the 1930s all the way to the disco era in the 1970s and '80s.

The first-floor exhibit in the historic Glos Mansion near downtown Elmhurst showcases different aspects of the sport, including skate dancing, speed skating and roller derby.

It also features materials from Elmhurst's old roller rink, called The Elm, which closed in 1989. Museum staff members even recreated the iconic sign for The Elm, which is in the shape of a roller skate.

On a broader scale, the exhibit includes items from other area roller rinks. And right in the middle of it all, visitors can see a map of the rinks that once dotted the region.

"From the nostalgic standpoint, it's a perfect Elmhurst story because there was this iconic roller skating sign that we recreated and a lot of people remember it, and a lot of people went there," Curator of Exhibits Dan Bartlett said. "It allows us to remind Elmhurst of something they had in the past and then, 'oh, look, other people in the area and around the country were doing it as well.' So we're again teaching history, or introducing people to a part of history, that they might not be familiar with, through their back door."

Bartlett's favorite part of the exhibit is the dress worn by Gloria Nord, a famous roller skater from the 1940s and '50s.

The exhibit includes a 1943 quote by sports writer Harry Grayson from the Blytheville Courier News, who said of Gloria, "This little lady means much to the nation's 15,000,000 roller-skaters. There are 4,000 roller rinks in the country to less than 200 ice rinks, 20 roller-skaters for every ice-skater. Once the sport of roughnecks, roller-skating has been taken up by the best people of all ages."

Museum staff members came up with the exhibit idea when they were contacted by author Tom Russo, who was writing a book called "Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday." Russo asked the museum for a photo of The Elm, and the staff decided it would be good opportunity to bring the story to Elmhurst.

A majority of the material on display was borrowed from community members, Bartlett said.

"We really worked with the community, connected with skaters, current skaters, former skaters, people from Elmhurst, people from Lombard, people from other communities," he said.

Bartlett said the exhibit is a great place to visit for those with a past in skating, and Venetia, Carol and Barbara couldn't agree more.

"It just brings back so many memories," Carol said, "of all the things we used to do in our youth."

If you go

What: Elmhurst History Museum

Where: 120 E. Park Ave., Elmhurst

Hours: 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays

Cost: Free

Info: elmhursthistory.org or (630) 833-1457