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Washington State History Museum: Roller Skates (photo diary) [1]

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Date: 2023-12-25  

The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington had a special exhibit on roller skates. The first recorded history of roller skates was in Belgium in 1759. Joseph Merlin, a musical instrument maker, fashioned skates with two inline wheels on shoes. The design was based on ice skates. Merlin made this first set of roller skates for a costume party: he wanted to make a spectacular entrance rolling into the party while playing a violin. While this was a great idea, he had failed to consider the need for stopped and crashed into a full-length mirror.

With regard to the problems of the early roller skates, Charles Panati, in his book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, writes:

“The crude wheels, without ball bearings, resisted turning, then abruptly turned and resisted stopping, then jammed to a halt on their own.”

In the mid-nineteenth-century, roller skates continued to be associated with music: an opera by Giacoma Meyerbeer included an ice-skating scene which was performed on improvised roller skate and a ballet composed and choreographed by Paul Taglioni included an ice-skating episode performed with roller skates.

The first roller rink opened in Massachusetts in 1865 by James Plimpton who had earlier developed a steerable roller skate. For some people roller skating was scandalous and one 1865 newspaper editorial stated:

“Elopements, bigamous marriages and other social transgressions were traced to the association of the innocent with the vicious on the skating floor.”

Finally, in 1884 ball-bearing wheels made roller skating a public pastime.

Shown above is a roller skate from about 1840.

Shown above is a roller skate from about 1840.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1871.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1883.

Shown above is a roller skate from about 1900-1910.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1920.

Shown above is a roller skate from about 1930-1955.

Shown above is a roller skate from about 1940-1950.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1945.

Shown about is a roller skate from about 1950-1965.

Shown above are roller skates from the 1950s.

Shown above is an inline skate from 1965.

Shown above is an inline rental skate from about 1990-1999.

Shown above is a jogger skate from 1975.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1982.

Shown above is a roller skate from 1989.

Shown above is a rental skate from about 2010-2020.

Shown above is a rental skate from about 2010-2022.

Shown above is an inline speed skate for 2022.

Shown above are high-heeled roller skates made in 2022.

Putting it all together

More Museum Exhibits

Washington State History Museum: Model railroad (photo diary)

Museums 101: Apple Capital of the World! (photo diary)

Lake Chelan Historical Society: A collection of dolls (photo diary)

Prosser Historical Museum: Rifles (museum exhibit)

Heritage Museum: The Chinese in Astoria (museum exhibits)

Museums 101: Recreational History (Photo Diary)

Museums 101: A Collection of Toys (Photo Diary)

Museums 101: The Historic Dumas Brothel Museum (Photo Diary)

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