By Edward Master
On a recent excursion to Grove City for various sundry items including candy, cookies, and word puzzle books, the trip took us west on route 208 since a bridge job just west of Clintonville was now complete and the road open again. We passed through Pine Grove, the one-time home of, perhaps, a one-time rite of passage for local youth, the (infamous?) Hilltop Roller Rink.
The roller rink has long since passed its existence. I have no memory of when it closed its doors. I know I once spoke to a woman who had a son or grandson buy that property and build a garage for a big-rig truck on that site.
I recall of having only one conversation about the roller skating and its leaking roof. However, part of what may have been a one-time rite of passage involves the story of the roller rink’s skating bus, designed for pickup and delivery of customers.
The skating bus was operated by driver Lew Witherup. I don’t know of Witherup’s background as a driver nor his connection to the roller rink. As I remember there was a definite route through the area for passenger pickup of would-be skaters.
I believe the first stop was in Foxburg, probably at Gross’s market. Then, up the hill to St. Petersburg and on to Turkey City, (TC). At TC, we got on at Sheesley’s store and on to Wentling’s Corners at a former small restaurant (Mean’s?). In Knox, the bus made a stop in the middle of town at the bank, across from the Five-and-Dime, and then to downtown Emlenton and up the river hill to Pine Grove.
The bus rides always seemed smokey, from cigarettes. Back then, no one knew anything about second-hand smoke. We rode with a blue cloud.
Bob DeLoe is the one guy I remember from the bus rides. Why he was on those trips is beyond me as he was much older than us kids. I did my term of roller skating when I was in junior high school age. Why was Bob there? I recall he sat in the back and chain-smoked cigarettes.
Once in a while, we may have stopped to pick up kids in Monroe on the hill above Turkey City. There may have been a Stevens girl or a couple Shoup boys or a Shrum brother. There was a Parker girl (Mary?) in Knox, who I found out years later married a fraternity brother of mine. That marriage didn’t last. I surmised they each had issues.
But, Mary(?) Parker’s cousin Judy (from Turkey City fame) did leave one indelible mark with/on the skating bus. We were going up the Emlenton Hill (slowly, over stocked with kids) when we were pulled over by the state police. A trooper got on the bus, in a blue haze, and from the middle of the bus Judy’s distinctive voice yelled out: “Don’t worry officer, we’re not overloaded!”
Well, that actually bailed us out as the trooper departed and away we chugged (barely) up the hill to Hilltop. Whew!
I learned to roller skate fairly quickly and easily. A few girls brought their own personal roller skates, in big metal cases. I rented skates each time. It felt so good to put ‘cold’ shoes on your feet after wearing ‘hot’ skates for a couple of hours. We ate candy and chips and drank soda pop. Sometimes boys and girls paired up to sit together in a single seat for the bus trip home. I forget exactly what I did, but I bet someone knows.
I skated in one other skating rink in Seneca. That rink I believe became some kind of flea market. I never knew of any skating rink in New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania. At one time, however, there was a skate building north of Grove City, but I was never interested. I don’t recall my wife ever speaking of roller skating.
When we were adults, it was all in-line skating by then. This may never have been a rite of passage, but for a short time it was at least something to pass time on a Saturday evening.
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