Roller Skating

Roller Skating

This sport was probably invented by ice skaters who wanted to skate when there was no ice. As early as the mid-1700s, people in the Netherlands and Belgium were roller skating. Some early skates only had two wheels. Others had several wheels in a line like to today's in-line skates. In 1863 James Plimpton of Medford, Mass., developed the first practical skate. His arrangement of four rollers set in pairs turned roller skating into a craze that spread back to Europe. In the 1890s the first all-steel skate was introduced. The turn of the century brought the ball-bearing roller, which allowed for the development of the modern skate. [AM]{NR}