Many people remember the Derby Skating Rink that was located in the building used now as an Auction House across from the Commerce City Library, on 72nd Ave.

But while searching through the microfilms at the Denver Library I found evidence of an earlier roller skating rink somewhere in Derby. It burned down on June 17, 1939. The June 18, 1939 Rocky Mountain News first page story of the fire began with headlines that read "$10,000 fire hits Derby."

No address was given for the rink. The story was told in the article.

"Fire leveled a tavern, a roller skating rink and a two story home in Derby Colorado, seven miles northeast of Denver, last night. The loss was estimated at approximately $10,000. The blaze started when a gasoline stove exploded in an apartment at the rear of the tavern and spread rapidly through the three buildings, lighting the night sky with the leaping flames.

Al Aluisi and Reco Albertini, joint proprietors of the tavern, in whose apartment the explosion occurred and Ernest Gabardi, a friend, raced through the flames and escaped uninjured. Mr. Aluisi said he had struck a match to light the stove, and a burst of flame filled the room. Mr. Gabardi had just walked through the front door. Mrs. P.G. Peterson, wife of the proprietor of an adjoining skating rink, was on the second floor of their newly built home, at the rear of the skating pavilion, when she saw the flames. Hurriedly gathering up some valuables, she shouted to her husband as she fled from the house.

Mr. Peterson and neighbors, including Eugene Zancancella, removed furniture and 300 pairs of roller skates from the buildings before they were ignited by sparks from the blazing tavern. Mr. Aluisis and Mr. Albertini were forced to leave so hurriedly they were unable to remove $50 from the cash register. Spectators were warned away from the fire when several boxes of cartridges in the tavern began exploding in the blaze.

Members of the Aurora Fire Department responded with Chief Speck to a telephoned alarm. They applied water and chemicals to the roof and walls of a nearby filling station, which was undamaged by flames."

Do you remember this skating rink that burned down? Marie (Marcus) Greenemeier moved to the Derby area in 1937 and lived with her parents on land that is now part of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Land. Marie told of skating at a rink she indicated was on 72nd Ave. across the street from where the Commerce City Library is now located. She said that the rink closed in the latter 1930s. The skating rink mentioned in the Rocky Mountain article was destroyed in June of 1939. Were there two skating rinks? Marie said that her favorite times were skating every Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. There were always a bunch of kids there.

"Daddy wouldn't let us go out at night," Marie said, "so that's the only time I could go skating." There was a fence down the middle of the rink and some of the girls jumped the fence in their skates. Marie never was that brave, but she thought about it a few times. Marie Greenemeir is now deceased.

Virginia Henderson said that the same building was once the "Derby Dance Hall." She often went dancing there. Virginia related that in the late 1940s the dance hall was turned into a skating rink where her children went roller skating.

Irene Mollandor also loved to skate. She walked five miles from the arsenal to go the skating rink.

Shirley (Krogh) Leeper told of going skating in the rink across from where the library is now located. Girls wore long jeans in those days and rolled them above the knees. Thursday night was Adams City Night at the Derby Skating Rink and they had problems from other crowds. The girls wanted to go with boys from other towns and the boys from Adams City High School objected.

Shirley stated that it was a big rink with a good floor. On the west wall there were skates to rent and a place to buy pop and potato chips. A bench faced the wall, to put skates on. There was a railing behind the bench and a door that opened up at the east end.

The skating rink was the favorite hangout for Leonard Dietz and the rest of the Adams City School crowd on Thursday nights. The rink had posts down the middle and benches on the sides. Carol Horblit and Leonard Dietz were married on Valentine's Day in 1948. The reception was held at the Derby Skating Rink with 500 guests attending the festivities that included a feast of German sausage and rye bread.